While listening to the latest Sonicstate podcast, they announced the acquisition of Bandcamp going to Epic.

From the Bandcamp blog:

Spoiler: Bandcamp is Joining Epic Games

I’m excited to announce that Bandcamp is joining Epic Games, who you may know as the makers of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, and champions for a fair and open Internet.

Bandcamp will keep operating as a standalone marketplace and music community, and I will continue to lead our team. The products and services you depend on aren’t going anywhere, we’ll continue to build Bandcamp around our artists-first revenue model (where artists net an average of 82% of every sale), you’ll still have the same control over how you offer your music, Bandcamp Fridays will continue as planned, and the Daily will keep highlighting the diverse, amazing music on the site. However, behind the scenes we’re working with Epic to expand internationally and push development forward across Bandcamp, from basics like our album pages, mobile apps, merch tools, payment system, and search and discovery features, to newer initiatives like our vinyl pressing and live streaming services.

Since our founding in 2008, we’ve been motivated by the pursuit of our mission, which is to help spread the healing power of music by building a community where artists thrive through the direct support of their fans. That simple idea has worked well, with payments to artists and labels closing in on $1 billion USD. And while over the years we’ve heard from other companies who wanted us to join them, we’ve always felt that doing so would only be exciting if they strongly believed in our mission, were aligned with our values, and not only wanted to see Bandcamp continue, but also wanted to provide the resources to bring a lot more benefit to the artists, labels, and fans who use the site. Epic ticks all those boxes. We share a vision of building the most open, artist-friendly ecosystem in the world, and together we’ll be able to create even more opportunities for artists to be compensated fairly for their work.

Whether you joined Bandcamp recently or have been with us since the beginning 14 years ago, thank you for being a part of this incredible community, and we look forward to serving you for many years to come!

Ethan Diamond
Bandcamp co-founder and CEO

 

It's good or bad?

 

Only time will tell. Depends upon how the two interact via services & supported development. Could also make Epic more of an attractive target for the likes of Apple or Microsoft.

 

Epic buying Bandcamp could have many positive benefits now and, into the future if executed properly.

 

It's not Epic Records.

 

I would imagine the latter. My sense is that the merging of all these companies will gradually place more regulations on the average musicians creative freedom and expression. That just seems to me a common pattern with such things and more so giving the current climate. Just a hunch though.

 

Bandcamp is Joining Epic Games
https://blog.bandcamp.com/2022/03/02/bandcamp-is-joining-epic/

 

While I don't quite follow the logic of Epic acquiring Bandcamp as big companies have been on a massive shopping spree recently, buying smaller shops left and right.

But knowing that Epic has a massive game dev platform (Unreal Engine), connecting these two would make sense. If you're a small time dev then you need assets, and what if you could do this with no hassle, to connect with musicians immediately? To handle IP rights and licensing just like that?

Sure, there is something here that I'm missing probably, but I'm actually cautiously optimistic.

 

Something more sinister is afoot me thinks.Lets see if your contract doesn't change with Bandcamp.

 

The title of the article in the Spoiler say it all. 3/4 into the text, you will see the link to their blog announcement.

 

By joining forces, you can save a lot of money. You use the resources together now. Or in other words, together we are stronger. One problem is always monopolization.

 

They don't know where to put their money ... so they buy everything

The grabbing hands grab all they can
All for themselves - after all
It's a competitive world
Everything counts in large amounts

Depeche Mode 1983 (already)

Live

 

RIP Bandcamp.

Another portal founded and built by independent artists which will now get fucke (again, as usual)

I can remember what happened after SoundCloud was bought by Universal(?). They took away all options to self-promo for indie artists. Which basically was the end for SC for regular folks.

 

Yeah, I agree here.

I mean there are basically two reasons to acquire a company, first is that you've got a product you can somehow assimilate to your business. The second is that you're buying an already profitable business adding to your cash flow.

I'm not clever enough to figure what's Epic's game plan here, as at least to me it don't seem a particularly compatible match.

 

I think the first thing they will do is integrate it directly into Fortnite, where all 14y/o meets. You will find lootboxes roaming around on Bandcamp soon and who knows, you might need to make a Fortnite account to access Bandcamp?

 

monthly battle royale for playlist expo$ure, $urvival of the fittes$t

 

Japanese tech company Sony, which owns the Playstation brand, acquired 1.4% of Epic Games' shares for $250 million in July 2020. Thus, Epic Games is valued at a total of $17.86 billion.

 

Interesting discussion on Sonicstate .It does depend on if Epic Games are bought out and Bandcamp goes to the wayside . If the person who pushed this idea leaves and again they loose interest in it. I do love Sonicstate I try not to miss it.

 

so if I post something on Band Camp Epic records won-t be aware of it but Sony will?

 

I think it's not the worst

IN GAMING:
Epic is, in direct compare with steam, the better platform :

In terms of revenue splits, Steam offers a split of 30/70-20/80 (Steam/Developer) depending on sales. Epic meanwhile, offers a much more generous 12/88 ratio, meaning more money going back to the developers, to hopefully spend it on making more content. So if you are passionate about supporting developers, this might be something worth considering.

(https://stealthoptional.com/how-to/steam-vs-epic-games-store-2021-which-is-better/)

If they do the same with Musicians in the end, will only time show .

And if they do crappy things, we build our own Bandcamp.

Also, there are most of the time alternatives to everything .

 

Last edited by a moderator: Mar 11, 2022