A new story from Resident Advisor has revealed that the popular music platform Bandcamp is now blocked in China.
RA reports that numerous Chinese artists and labels sent proof of the block and confirmed the story. They would go on to share a number of social media posts—including one from a popular Chinese censorship tracking account—that confirmed the ban occurred on February 16th, 2021 and has been ongoing with the exception of February 18th, 2021, when it appears to have been temporarily lifted.
Statements from numerous artists note that since website censorship is common, many residents have grown used to using VPNs to bypass the blocking system. A local artist named SVBKVLT spoke to RA about the new restrictions and emphasized the fact that many are already used to going around the system and that most artists were likely using a VPN to begin with.
“I’d go so far as to say that probably every Chinese label that has music on Bandcamp will have a VPN, and every artist on those labels will have a VPN and thus practically speaking, it won’t change anything,” SVBKVLT said.
At the time of this article’s publication, Bandcamp has not yet released an official statement addressing the recent ban.
Source: Resident Advisor