The best Bandcamp code tool for metal bands (2026)
Full disclosure: we make one of these tools. GetMusic publishes this page, so we are biased. We have tried to earn your trust anyway by ranking by what fits you, saying plainly where a competitor is better, and putting GetMusic below it when it is.
A band that sells shirts and records through Bandcamp has a different code problem from a bedroom producer. The store already works. People already buy. Codes are a way to get the record to people who did not, or to give something to the people who did, and the tool that handles them should not get in the way of the store. That is the lens for this list.
We run GetMusic. It has a metal browsing page, which is why it is on the list at all, and it is ranked second, behind a free tool that does the plain job for nothing. If your codes mostly go to people who already follow the band, start with the free option and skip us. If you want the record in front of people browsing for metal who have not heard of you, read our entry and test it on one release for free.
One thing this page will not do is tell you about your scene. Genre decides which browsing page a release lands on. It does not decide anything else here.
TL;DR
- Band.codes — free, unlimited — a code link for every release and split, counts redemptions, no bill
- GetMusic — first release free, $10 after — listed on /bandcamp/metal, fans claim with no account, you see who took each code
- Bandcamp's own tools + Mailchimp — free — codes mail-merged to the people who already bought from the store
- Sharing by hand — free — Discord, a forum thread, the merch table; direct, untracked, and public
- dlcm.app — free for 2 releases, Pro $5/month — password-protected pages for promo codes before street date
1. Band.codes
- Best for
- A band putting out full-lengths, EPs, and splits, that needs a code link per release and already has people to send it to.
- Price
- Free for artists and labels, unlimited releases, donation-supported.
- What you learn about claimers
- A count of redemptions. Not who, not where.
First because it is free, it has no release cap, and it has been handing out Bandcamp codes in DIY and underground circles for a long time. Load the codes. Take the link. Post it. Customise the embed if you want it on the band site. Fans take a code with no sign-up. There is a community feed of releases, though browsing by genre is limited, so a split on Band.codes is seen mostly by the people you point at it.
What it will not give you is anything beyond a number. No list of who claimed, no email addresses, no idea whether a claim came from your post or someone else's share. For a band whose codes go to followers, that is fine. Where Band.codes loses to GetMusic is only for the band trying to reach listeners who were not already following, and that is a $10-per-release question answered on the GetMusic vs Band.codes page.
2. GetMusic
- Best for
- A band that wants the record listed where people browse for metal, and a list of who claimed each code.
- Price
- First release promotion free, up to 100 codes. Each additional release is a one-time $10. No subscription.
- What you learn about claimers
- Who claimed, when, and where they came from, per code.
Paste the Bandcamp URL. GetMusic builds the release page from the track list, art, and tags, validates each uploaded code against Bandcamp before it is served, and lists the release on /bandcamp/metal and in the ranked explore and popular feeds. Fans who follow metal, or who follow the band, get a notification. Social posts are queued. A fan claims without an account, and the claim lands in your log with a name, a time, and a source.
That log is the reason to pay $10 for release two. The count on Band.codes tells you codes moved. The log tells you who moved them and whether they came from browsing or from your own post. Where GetMusic loses: it is Bandcamp-only, it does nothing for Spotify or merch, and codes you print onto download cards or slip into record sleeves never touch it. It handles the online batch and nothing else. We also will not quote how many people browse the metal page; run a release and read the log instead.
3. Bandcamp's own tools + Mailchimp
- Best for
- Sending codes to the people who already bought a shirt or a record, with no third party involved.
- Price
- 200 free codes per account, 1,000 more per $500 in sales, more for purchase on the Tools page.
- What you learn about claimers
- How many codes in the set were redeemed. Nothing about who.
Codes come from here no matter what else you use. Generate a set on the release's Tools page, export the CSV. Bandcamp documents mail-merging that CSV through Mailchimp or Constant Contact so each address gets one code. A band with a store that sells has a reason to run a list, and when the list exists this is the shortest path from new record to codes in inboxes.
Bandcamp has no public page where fans browse free codes, so this reaches your list and nobody else. The Tools page reports a redeemed count per set and stops there. For a band selling well enough to earn extra codes, the free allowance will be the thing to watch: 200 to start, 1,000 more per $500 in sales, and you can buy more. Size the per-release set against that, not against the number of people you would like to reach.
4. Sharing by hand
- Best for
- A band with an active Discord or forum presence, or codes handed over in person at a show.
- Price
- Free.
- What you learn about claimers
- Nothing. A code posted in public is gone when used, and the person is anonymous.
Post a few codes in the band Discord. Drop some in a forum thread. Hand a card across the merch table. It is direct, it is free, and for a band already talking to people it needs no explanation. The cost is tracking. You will not know who redeemed what, a publicly posted code cannot be reused on any other tool, and you cannot tell a listener from someone who grabs every free code they see.
Treat hand sharing as a small slice, not the plan. Post a handful at a time and keep the rest for a tool that reports back. Never post codes that are also loaded somewhere else; a code used from a Discord message still shows as available on your Band.codes or GetMusic page. Our primer on Bandcamp codes covers how the handoff works and where it leaks.
5. dlcm.app
- Best for
- Promo codes for writers and radio before street date, behind a password, with a clean page per release.
- Price
- Free for 2 releases, unlimited codes. Pro is $5/month or $50/year for unlimited releases.
- What you learn about claimers
- Used or unused, per code. No claimer identity.
Download Code Manager is a one-developer project that stores codes per release and hands them out one at a time, marking each used. The free tier covers two releases with unlimited codes, a profile page, and a page per release. Pro adds unlimited releases, password-protected pages, custom URLs, extra copy on release pages, active and inactive release states, Bandcamp CSV upload, a player embed, and social and streaming links.
The password-protected pages are the reason it is here. A promo batch for press can sit behind a password instead of in a forwarded email, and the page can be switched off on release day. No audience arrives on its own, and reporting is used versus unused. For a band's public code giveaway it adds little over Band.codes; for the promo cycle before a record drops it fills a real gap. The dlcm.app alternative page has more.
What we'd do today
- Generate a set of codes on the record's Bandcamp Tools page and export the CSV. Decide now how many are for promo, how many for followers, and how many for strangers. Keep them in separate files.
- Put the follower share on Band.codes and post the link where the band already talks to people. Free, done.
- Put the stranger share on GetMusic using the free first promotion so the record sits on /bandcamp/metal. Read the claim log after a month and see whether anyone found it by browsing.
- If there is a promo cycle, put that share behind a password on dlcm.app's free tier and switch the page off on release day.
- Run Fix My Bandcamp on the release page before any of the above goes out. A claimed code sends the fan straight to that page.
Frequently asked questions
Put one record on GetMusic's metal page, free
Up to 100 codes listed on /bandcamp/metal at no charge. Read the claim log after a month, then decide whether the next release is worth $10 or whether Band.codes covers it.
Written by Chuck Blake, founder of GetMusic.
GetMusic is a Bandcamp code distribution platform, so this page has a bias and says so. Competitor features and prices were checked against each company's public pages in October 2026; if something has changed, tell us and we will fix the page. More about who we are is on the about page and in GetMusic by the numbers.