ParseForge
Bandcamp Genre Tag Scraper
parseforge/bandcamp-scraper
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Scrapes Bandcamp releases by genre tag. Returns title, artist, price, and tag metadata for each release. Sort by top or new.
- Total users
- 10
- Monthly active
- 0
- Total runs
- 231
- Bookmarked
- 0
- Rating
- Not rated yet
- Last modified
- 12 days ago
Overview
Bandcamp Genre Tag Scraper
Scrape Bandcamp releases by genre tag, up to a million per run. Every release comes with its title, artist, price, and tag metadata. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
Bandcamp's official API needs a developer account and rate-limits you. This reads the public genre tag pages directly, filtered by sort order, and returns each release in one fixed schema. Search by any tag, from ambient to punk, and get the latest or best-selling releases.
| Who uses it | What they scrape Bandcamp for |
|---|---|
| Music supervisors | Finding new tracks for film and TV sync licensing |
| A&R researchers | Discovering emerging artists in a specific genre |
| Playlist curators | Building genre-specific playlists with fresh releases |
| Music journalists | Tracking what is new and popular in a scene |
| Data analysts | Studying pricing and release patterns across genres |
What it does
This Actor collects Bandcamp releases by genre tag and returns each one as a flat row.
- 🏷️ Genre tag browsing: enter any tag like ambient, jazz, punk, or electronic.
- 🔢 Flexible volume: from 10 preview items to 1,000,000 releases per run.
- ↕️ Sort control: choose Top (best selling) or New (recently released).
Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.
What you can do with Bandcamp data
🎬 Sync licensing scouting.
A music supervisor runs the Actor on the ambient tag, sorts by new, and reviews the latest releases to shortlist tracks for a film project.
🎤 A&R discovery.
An A&R researcher scrapes the punk tag sorted by top to identify best-selling independent artists worth signing.
📊 Genre trend analysis.
A data analyst collects a year of electronic releases and compares pricing and release frequency across subgenres.
📻 Playlist curation.
A playlist curator pulls the newest jazz releases each week and adds the standout tracks to a public playlist.
Why choose this scraper
| What you get | |
|---|---|
| No API key | Reads public Bandcamp pages directly, no registration or OAuth. |
| One fixed schema | Every release returns the same flat fields, ready for analysis. |
| Scale on demand | From 10 preview items to a million releases per run. |
| Export anywhere | CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML for your pipeline. |
How it compares
This Actor focuses on scraping releases by a single genre tag with sort control, while competitors offer broader search or additional data types.
| Feature | ParseForge | Bandcamp Scraper - Artists, Albums, Tracks & Tags | Bandcamp New Release Scraper | Bandcamp Album & Artist Scraper |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Scrape by genre tag | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Sort by top (best selling) | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Sort by new (recently released) | Yes | Not listed | Yes | Not listed |
| Scrape up to 1,000,000 releases | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Export to JSON/CSV | Yes | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| Export to Excel/XML | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
Configure the run
Drive the Actor from a single genre tag, and the sort filter runs as each release is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.
A first run with the defaults:
{
"tag": "ambient",
"maxItems": 10
}
A larger pull:
{
"tag": "ambient",
"maxItems": 200
}
Pricing
Pay-per-result: $0.021 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.
| Results collected | Approximate cost |
|---|---|
| 100 results | $2.10 |
| 1,000 results | $21.00 |
| 10,000 results | $210.00 |
New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.
Free users
Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.
Run it
- Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
- Open the Bandcamp Genre Tag Scraper.
- Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
- Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.
Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.
Use with AI agents (MCP)
Give an AI agent live access to Bandcamp through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:
claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/bandcamp-scraper"
Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.
Troubleshooting
Why am I getting no results?
Check that the tag you entered exists on Bandcamp. Try a common tag like ambient or jazz. Also ensure maxItems is set to at least 1.
Why am I only getting 10 items?
Free users are limited to 10 items as a preview. Upgrade to a paid plan to increase maxItems up to 1,000,000.
The sort order is not what I expected.
Make sure you selected the correct sort option: Top for best-selling or New for recently released. The default is Top.
Some fields are empty in the output.
Not all releases have every field filled on Bandcamp. Empty fields mean the data was not present on the page.
The run fails with an error.
Check the Actor log for details. Often it is a temporary network issue. Retry the run, and if it persists, contact support.
FAQ
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What is a Bandcamp genre tag? | A genre tag is a keyword that artists and labels attach to their releases, like ambient, jazz, or punk. You can browse any tag on Bandcamp's Discover pages. |
| Do I need a Bandcamp account or API key? | No. The Actor reads the public tag pages directly, so no login, API key, or OAuth is required. |
| How many releases can I scrape? | Free users are limited to 10 items as a preview. Paid users can set maxItems up to 1,000,000. |
| What does each release row include? | Each row includes the release title, artist, price, and tag metadata, along with other fields from the Bandcamp page. The exact fields are shown in the sample output. |
| Can I sort the results? | Yes, choose Top for best-selling releases or New for recently released ones. |
| Can I scrape multiple tags at once? | This Actor takes one tag per run. Run it multiple times with different tags to cover multiple genres. |
| What export formats are supported? | You can export the dataset as CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML. |
| Is this legal? | You should only scrape public data in accordance with Bandcamp's terms of service and applicable laws. The Actor does not bypass any access controls. |
| How often is the data updated? | The Actor reads live pages on each run, so the data is as current as Bandcamp's public pages. |
| Can I schedule this Actor to run automatically? | Yes, you can set up a schedule in Apify to run it daily, weekly, or at any interval. |
Related actors
Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.
🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.
⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Bandcamp, Inc. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.
Input
| Field | Type | What it does | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| tag | string | Music genre or tag to browse on Bandcamp (e.g. "ambient", "jazz", "punk", "electronic"). | ambient |
| maxItems | integer | Free users: Limited to 10 items (preview). Paid users: Optional, max 1,000,000. | 10 |
| sort | string (2 options) | Sort order for results. | top |
Pricing
from $19.00 per 1,000 results
| Charged for | What it is | Price each |
|---|---|---|
| result | Single result in the default dataset. | $0.019 to $0.021 |
Tiered: the lower figure is the price on a higher Apify plan. Billing and the free credit live on Apify.
API
One POST returns the dataset directly. Same shape for every scraper in the library, so swapping the slug is the only change.
curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/parseforge~bandcamp-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=$APIFY_TOKEN" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{
"helloWorld": 123
}' Examples
Input that runs as-is.
{
"helloWorld": 123
} Reviews
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Issues
We build and maintain this scraper, so a problem with it comes to us. Report it on the Apify listing and the thread stays attached to the scraper where the next person can find it: open an issue.
Broken and urgent, or you would rather not post in public? Write to parseforge@protonmail.com and it reaches the people who wrote it.