Since my very first encounter with Bandcamp I was smitten. They provide an extremely effective way for artists to digitally distribute their goods to the masses without taking a percentage cut themselves. Their mentality has been to put the music first and then figure out how to monetize it for themselves later. I wasn't sure there was a way for me to love them anymore than I already.. until yesterday when they announced BC Wax; their foray into releasing physical products into the world in high quality packaging. This encapsulates everything I feel about about my own label project in such a perfectly succinct way:

Too many bands nowadays seem to go about the production of their merch with the sole objective of fulfilling fans’ perceived format preferences, and end up with lackluster products that offer no advantages over a download. It’s an unfortunate mindset (fueled by the rise in print-on-demand services) which in our opinion entirely misses the point. Yes, the world still contains a few people who want their music on CD or vinyl simply because it’s CD or vinyl. However, we’re fast approaching the point at which the convenience of digital files is preferred by everyone, and in order to sell, the physical version must offer something the digital does not. It must somehow be made into an object that every one of your fans has to own, has to hold while they listen to your music, and has to show to all of their friends. It must be transformed from a disposable good into something your fans will fetishize.

You can read much more about the endeavor here, visit the "unlabels" site here and listen to their first release here. I am personally not enamored with their music of the first release (it's well done, just not up my alley) but the packaging is beautiful and I'm beyond intrigued to see what these guys have up their sleeve next.