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What I would like to know is whether it is actual flac or if Bancamp just converts artist supplied mp3s.

Bandcamp requires lossless audio formats (https://bandcamp.com/help/uploading#aiffwavuploadrequirement), so it's up to the artist/album whether it's a transcode.

Ok going deeper into the rabbit hole: you never know what did the artist sampled it from :-)

If the artist made their music as Mp3 then you should accept that as the way they intended it to sound.

Artists are required to upload WAV, AIF, or FLAC.