Why the WAV/AIFF/FLAC upload requirement? Why don’t you just accept MP3s?
It’s all about preserving the integrity of your work, and providing flexibility for your fans. WAV, AIFF and FLAC are high-fidelity, lossless formats. By starting with the highest possible quality source, we’re able to convert your tracks into a bunch of different format and quality combinations. Some we use to make your streams sound great, others we offer for audiophile-pleasing download. Sure, many fans listen using Spirit Airlines headphones worn on the outside of their hoodies, but for the rabid minority who care about this stuff, it's a big part of the reason they buy on Bandcamp, and recommend others do the same.
Sold! So how do I get my tracks into a lossless format?
New tracks (from the studio) are probably already in WAV or AIFF or can easily be saved in one of those formats by your audio editing software. If you’re importing old tracks from CD, just rip the tracks to WAV or AIFF using Apple Music. Select “Preferences…” from the Apple Music menu, click the Import Settings… button in the General tab (for versions of Apple Music earlier than 8.0, click the Advanced tab and select “Importing”), and next to “Import Using:” choose “AIFF Encoder” or “WAV Encoder.” If you’d prefer to upload FLAC files (which is a compressed lossless format, so it sounds exactly the same as WAV and AIFF but creates files that are about half the size and therefore take half the time to upload) we suggest using one of these tools to convert your tracks (Apple Music doesn’t support FLAC conversion).
Can’t I just convert my MP3s to lossless and upload those?
We strongly recommend against it. The resulting audio will not sound good and fans expecting to get a high-quality download will be disappointed. Some will (rightfully) demand a refund.