Why buying matters
When you stream a song, the artist earns somewhere between $0.003 and $0.005. That means a thousand plays of your favorite album generates roughly the cost of a cup of coffee. When you buy that same album on Bandcamp for $10, the artist gets $8.20. One purchase replaces roughly two thousand streams.
Buying music isn't just a financial statement. It gives you files you actually own — files that work offline, files that don't disappear when a licensing deal expires, files that sound exactly as good twenty years from now as they do today. For a deeper look at the streaming economics, check out our streaming royalty calculator.
The purchase hierarchy
Not every store is equal. We rank purchase destinations by a simple question: how much of your money reaches the person who made the music? Here's the hierarchy we follow across all of Cassette:
Start at the top and work down. Below, we break each one open.
Bandcamp
Bandcamp is the gold standard for buying music directly from artists. Artists keep approximately 82% of every sale (85% on Bandcamp Fridays, when the platform waives its revenue share). You get your choice of format — FLAC, MP3, WAV, ALAC, AAC, and Ogg Vorbis — and you can re-download your purchases forever.
The catalog skews independent. You won't find most major-label releases here, but for indie, electronic, hip-hop, metal, and experimental music, it's unmatched. The discovery features are genuinely good — editorial recommendations, genre tags, and a "selling right now" feed that surfaces real-time purchases from other listeners.
Best for: Independent and small-label releases. Discovery that actually leads to purchases. Supporting artists as directly as possible.
Limitations: Limited major-label catalog. The mobile app is for listening only — you have to buy from the web.
Qobuz
Qobuz is both a streaming service and a download store — and the download store is what makes it special. It's the best place to buy hi-res digital music, with a catalog that includes major labels alongside independents. Downloads are available in CD-quality FLAC (16-bit/44.1kHz) and hi-res up to 24-bit/192kHz.
Pricing varies by format and release: expect $10–15 for a CD-quality album and $15–25 for hi-res. They run regular sales and offer a subscription-plus-discount model if you stream through them too. The artist revenue share isn't as transparent as Bandcamp's, but it's meaningfully better than Amazon's margin structure.
Best for: Hi-res digital purchases. Major-label albums you can't find on Bandcamp. Building a high-quality FLAC library.
Limitations: Pricing can be steep for hi-res. Catalog is weaker for niche genres. No physical media.
For a detailed breakdown, see our full Qobuz review.
Discogs
Discogs is the world's largest marketplace for physical music — vinyl, CD, cassette, and anything else that comes in a sleeve. It's not a store in the traditional sense; it's a marketplace where thousands of sellers list their inventory, from pristine sealed copies to well-loved second-hand records.
The prices are set by sellers, so they vary wildly. A common repress might run $20–30; a rare original pressing could be hundreds. Discogs also functions as the definitive music database — every pressing, every variant, every format, all cataloged by the community.
Best for: Vinyl collectors. Finding specific pressings. Physical media in any format.
Limitations: No digital downloads. Shipping costs and condition variability. The marketplace can be overwhelming for newcomers.
7digital
7digital operates somewhat behind the scenes — they power the download stores for several other platforms — but they also sell directly. Their catalog is broad, including major labels, and they offer FLAC downloads alongside MP3. It's often the place to find digital copies of albums that aren't on Bandcamp and are overpriced on Qobuz.
Best for: Filling catalog gaps. Find it here when Bandcamp and Qobuz don't have it.
Limitations: No hi-res options. The interface feels dated. Less community or discovery.
iTunes / Apple Music Store
Apple still sells individual songs and albums through the iTunes Store (accessible via the Music app or the iTunes Store app on iOS). Files are AAC format at 256kbps — not lossless, but decent quality. Pricing is standardized: usually $9.99 per album, $1.29 per track.
Best for: Apple ecosystem users who want the simplest possible purchase flow. If you're already in Apple Music and want to own certain albums permanently.
Limitations: AAC only — no FLAC or lossless options. Can't easily move files to non-Apple software.
Amazon Music
Amazon sells MP3 downloads, and their prices are sometimes the lowest available. That's about the nicest thing we can say. The artist revenue share through Amazon's digital distribution is among the worst in the industry, and the buying experience is cluttered with streaming upsells.
We include Amazon because sometimes it's the only place to find a specific release in digital form. But it should be your last stop, not your first.
Best for: Releases you can't find anywhere else. Absolute cheapest option.
Limitations: Lowest artist revenue share. MP3 only (no lossless). Aggressive streaming upsells.
HDtracks
HDtracks is a niche audiophile download store specializing in hi-res audio. Their catalog is strongest in classical, jazz, and audiophile-grade remastered releases — the kind of stuff that Qobuz carries but HDtracks sometimes has exclusively or at better bit depths.
Best for: Classical and jazz collectors. Audiophile-grade masters at the highest available resolution.
Limitations: Very niche catalog. Higher prices. Limited contemporary music.
Situational picks
Artist direct sales and Cassette Direct
The very best option isn't a store at all — it's buying directly from the artist. Many musicians sell music through their own websites, at merch tables, or through platforms like Patreon and Ko-fi. When you buy direct, the artist typically keeps 95–100% after payment processing.
Cassette Direct is our own platform for artist-to-listener sales, launching soon. It works alongside the discovery features you already use here — find the music, then buy it directly from the person who made it. We take 5%, and the artist keeps the rest.
Bandcamp Fridays
On the first Friday of every month (and occasionally other dates announced in advance), Bandcamp waives their revenue share entirely. The artist keeps 100% of your purchase after payment processing — roughly 93% of your total.
Bandcamp Fridays started in 2020 as a pandemic response and became a permanent fixture. They're the single best time to buy music, period. If you're building a collection, keep a wish list and buy on these days. The community response is enormous — artists often release new music specifically timed to Bandcamp Fridays.
Services that have shut down
If you're searching for a store that used to exist, here's the current status. The digital music store landscape has consolidated significantly.
- Google Play Music Store — Shut down in 2020. Absorbed into YouTube Music.
- eMusic — Still technically exists but the catalog is a shadow of what it was.
- Beatport — Still active, but exclusively electronic/DJ music. Not a general music store.
- CD Baby Store — The direct-to-fan store closed; CD Baby pivoted to distribution only.