Bandcamp Acquire

The bandcamp-acquire plugin searches Bandcamp for each track, determines whether you already own it, and either downloads it immediately or walks you through purchasing it — with the payment step shown in a live browser window so you stay in control of your payment details.

Plugin version: 0.1.0 | Stage: Acquire | Requires browser: Yes

Configuration

Available formats

The Three-Phase Process

Bandcamp acquisition runs in three distinct phases. Each phase builds on the last and can be run independently if you need to pause or resume mid-workflow.

Phase 1 — Acquire (default)

This is the standard phase that runs when you click Run Acquire.

1. The plugin logs into Bandcamp using your credentials.
2. For each track in the cart, it searches Bandcamp globally using artist and title.
3. If you already own the track: navigates to your Bandcamp purchases page and downloads it immediately in your selected format. Done.
4. If you don’t own it: calls track_report_purchasable with the Bandcamp URL and current price. The track appears in the Kombiner cart as Needs Purchase with a price tag. The plugin proceeds to the next track.

After Phase 1, tracks that need purchasing are listed in the cart. You can review prices before spending anything.

Phase 2 — Add to Cart

When you’re ready to buy, this phase adds the un-owned tracks to your Bandcamp cart:

1. For each “needs purchase” track, navigates to the track’s Bandcamp page.
2. Fills in the minimum price (or your chosen amount for pay-what-you-want releases).
3. Clicks Add to Cart.

After this phase, all selected tracks are in your Bandcamp cart but not yet paid for.

Phase 3 — Purchase

This phase handles the actual payment and then downloads everything:

1. Opens the Bandcamp side-cart and clicks Check out.
2. Calls browser_prompt() to show you the browser window — you complete the payment yourself (enter card details, apply discount codes, etc.).
3. Kombiner waits and watches for the purchase confirmation URL to appear.
4. Once the purchase is confirmed, navigates to your purchases page and downloads all newly acquired tracks in your selected format.

Already-Owned Tracks

If you’ve already purchased a track on Bandcamp before adding it to the Kombiner cart, Phase 1 detects this automatically and skips straight to downloading from your purchases page. You never pay for the same track twice.

Tips

• Many Bandcamp releases are free or pay-what-you-want. Artists set their own minimum price — often $0.00. Phase 2 fills in the minimum, which may literally be free. Check the price shown in the cart before running Phase 3.
• Use FLAC when available. Bandcamp’s FLAC downloads are CD-quality (16-bit, 44.1 kHz). Most electronic releases on Bandcamp offer FLAC.
• You control the payment. Kombiner never handles your payment card details. The payment step in Phase 3 shows a real browser window — you type your details directly into Bandcamp’s checkout page, exactly as you would in a normal browser.
• Bandcamp fan accounts work. You don’t need a “pro” Bandcamp account. A regular fan account (free to create) is all you need.
• Purchases are permanent. Once bought on Bandcamp, you can re-download in any format at any time from your Bandcamp purchases page — including formats that may be added later.

Troubleshooting

Track not found on Bandcamp Bandcamp’s catalog is not as comprehensive as Beatport. Some tracks are only sold on one platform. If the search returns nothing, the track may simply not be on Bandcamp.

Payment step freezes If the browser shown in Phase 3 becomes unresponsive, close it and re-run Phase 3. The cart contents are preserved between runs as long as you don’t clear your Bandcamp cart.

Downloaded file is in the wrong format Verify the format setting in plugin configuration. Note that not all tracks offer every format — if your chosen format isn’t available for a specific release, the download may fall back to a different format or fail. Check Bandcamp’s format availability on the track’s page.

Login fails Verify credentials in plugin settings. If your Bandcamp account uses social login (Google, Apple), you may need to set a Bandcamp-native password first via your Bandcamp account settings.