Buying game soundtracks... [Bought :D]

I'm not familiar with buying soundtracks anywhere else, but if you buy it on steam you'll get the soundtrack in whichever format the developer wants to use (usually mp3, though it would not surprise me if some give you FLAC). The soundtrack will be downloaded with the game, and found in its own sub-folder.

I have never purchased a soundtrack (although I have some that came as promos), but I would assume the benefit of getting it with Steam would be having an easy link through your Steam library. Since there is no media player built into Steam or its mobile app I really cannot think of any other advantage.

You can do a Steam review on it. That's about it. Bandcamp usually is a better choice since there is a larger possibility that they offer lossless formats as well instead of this somewhat obsolete MP3 format.

Like Fnord said, the soundtrack is downloaded into the folder the game is, probably called "Soundtrack" or something.

You also might get some goodies if you buy the soundtrack, for example, in Payday 2, if you buy the soundtrack, you can unlock a couple of songs to use in the gameplay, and unlock the chance to unlock Santa masks.

Edit: Just saw Kletar response, didn't know we had a Music category, lol.

If you buy from steam you'll be able to review it. If you buy from Bandicamp I think the composer gets a higher share.

In my experience, most indie artists prefer to have their work purchased through Bandcamp instead of large places like iTunes and the like because they get a bigger chunk of the cash.

No idea how (or when?) an artist gets paid through a soundtrack Steam purchase, but my gut tells me it probably isn't nearly as much money.

Also, Bandcamp gives you options for FLAC or 320kbps mp3s and you can stream directly from the bandcamp app.