Bandcamp has come a long way. In an unexpected announcement on Wednesday, the music platform’s CEO Ethan Diamond revealed that it’s been purchased by Epic Games.
“The products and services you depend on aren’t going anywhere, we’ll continue to build Bandcamp around our artists-first revenue model,” Diamond wrote, insisting that core ideals and services for artists won’t be compromised.“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,” Diamond added.
He added that Epic Games and Bandcamp will collaborate “behind the scenes” to push creative development through merchandising, payment options, mobile apps, and livestreaming.
In a separate statement on their blog, Epic Games wrote that Bandcamp will play “an important role in Epic’s vision to build out a creator marketplace ecosystem for content, technology, games, art, music and more.”
“Bandcamp has built an incredible community and business where up and coming artists can succeed thanks to the direct support of their fans, with one of the best revenue models and terms in music,” said Steve Allison, Vice President and General Manager, Store at Epic Games. “This aligns closely with Epic’s approach to supporting creators across all media and enabling them to connect directly with their fans.”
Epic Games is the publisher of Fortnite which has amassed music fans during their virtual concert experiences including Travis Scott and Marshmello. The platform also created group video chat Houseparty, which ended in 2021 two years after its acquisition.
The announcement received a hostile reception on social media from indie artists who looked at Bandcamp as an adversary to the big tech streaming models like Spotify and Apple Music.
Read through responses to the acquisition below.
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