It seems like music streaming is the way of the future. Spotify, Apple Music, and services like Tidal are quickly becoming the most common way for people to access their music. To be sure, Spotify is extremely convenient, and it's great for listening to ready-made playlists at home, or while working on the computer.

But despite their popularity, and among raging controversies about streaming revenues for artists, Bandcamp has been consistently providing an artist-friendly platform for years. While nowhere near as big as Spotify, Bandcamp still pushes some impressive numbers of its own, even bragging 4.3 million in music/merch sales in 30 days last April.

Unlike Soundcloud or Spotify, Bandcamp allows artists some creative license with their artist pages, and provides infrastructure to help them sell merchandise. None of the streaming sites give musicians that power. Bandcamp also allows for users to stream their music libraries from both their website and their app. The app works just as smoothly as Spotify, and the only function that's missing is an easy way to download the files in your library (hurry up, guys!!).

For me personally, Bandcamp has also given me a modern interface that still allows me to use my Ipod Classic and experience my music without any strings attached. But even more importantly, it has introduced me not only to new bands, but entire new genres of music.

Bandcamp's tool for browsing by genre is one of the best that I've come across, and it makes it easy to browse by genre and discover new types and kinds of music that you may have never heard of. These odd, niche genres have been able to make a home in the Bandcamp community.

Bandcamp has long flown under the radar, but only recently did I begin to notice that it's taken advantage of all the internet has to offer to create a very happy medium between artists and their fans.

If that's not the future of music, I don't know what is.