bandcamp acquired by epic games?!

I switched to buying as much as possible from Boomkat and Bleep recently. 
 

I think it’s more important than ever to support small, independent music stores. 

I think a future where we directly own music is becoming less and less secure...

what the fuck is songtradr? never heard of it. i'm sure its a huge piece of shit though.

  On 9/28/2023 at 10:15 PM, kuniklo said:

I switched to buying as much as possible from Boomkat and Bleep recently. 
 

I think it’s more important than ever to support small, independent music stores. 

this is the proper way. you buy music from a music store. that being said i love bandcamp.

Yeah Bandcamp has been great but I feel like we need an alternative. It's become too important to be something sold around like this.

  On 9/28/2023 at 10:15 PM, kuniklo said:

I switched to buying as much as possible from Boomkat and Bleep recently. 
 

I think it’s more important than ever to support small, independent music stores. 

a lot of music on bandcamp is not available in stores tho. 

Bandcamp is a store tho

 alternatives exist they're just not very good

would like to hear what some of the artist/labels that use bandcamp as a cornerstone for their businesses think about the changes.

  On 9/28/2023 at 9:21 PM, kuniklo said:

I’m seriously considering building a Bandcamp competitor after this announcement. 

with a name like "Bandcamp Competitor" it's sure to catch fire!

edit: /s obviously

Thread. 

after myspace collapsed everyone moved to bandcamp. the problem is not to build another similar site but to get all artists moving again which is not happening until they really ruin it 

a generic website like this with similar functionality can be build in a couple of hours 

  On 9/30/2023 at 10:58 AM, psn said:

Thread. 

 

Expand  

Terrible name

  Quote

They’ve also also been on a buying spree lately, acquiring 7digital and a stake in Jaxsta. Plus they’re using AI and neuroscience to tailor music for brands?

Honestly, the real problem is, given the nature of platform capitalism and the governance of private corporations being for investor benefit, ultimately all these tools are doomed. It’s not really fair to say these services are artist-first, because artists ultimately have limited say over them. That’s not to say we shouldn’t use these services, but the dependency on them – and the extent to which we’re serving someone else’s needs – should absolutely be a worry.

https://cdm.link/2023/09/bandcamp-sold-to-songtradr/

CDM's writeup is solid. does a bit of digging into Songtradr 

So - this is bad, right?

  On 9/30/2023 at 2:54 PM, NewSchoolScience said:

Terrible name

ensemblebivouac

... additional

  Quote

Not only should artists have hubs and sites under their command, but we need to start thinking about true artist-first tools that operate on community rather than profit.

https://8sided.blog/a-mess-of-headaches/

  On 9/28/2023 at 9:36 PM, dcom said:

FFS

Yes. But life goes on, we'll see how and where.

I stopped reading Songtradrs statement right in the first sentence. Art is not what they remotely care of? "Songtradr, a music licensing platform and marketplace company..." 

so the mayor problem with being sold over and over is that the product is not developed further? At this point I wonder where it should go.

When last.fm started redesigning itself over and over it was the beginning of the end. same with reddit. so maybe its not so bad that they just stay where they are?

  On 10/1/2023 at 1:24 PM, o00o said:

so maybe its not so bad that they just stay where they are?

I hope so! I really like using Bandcamp.

Guessing the acquisition is down to Epic Games trying to recoup some cash from their recent huge losses - Blame Fortnite I guess  (what a strange world we're in where a game dictates the fate of a music platform !)... - https://en.as.com/meristation/news/epic-games-ceo-blames-fortnite-for-the-companys-massive-layoffs-of-almost-1000-workers-n/

  Quote

Bandcamp workers say they are unable to do their jobs after being locked out of critical systems. They’re also expecting layoffs.

https://www.wired.com/story/epic-games-sale-bandcamp-music-platform-limbo/

  On 10/11/2023 at 7:44 PM, Summon Dot E X E said:

Future releases may be via Google Drive links.

i'll pay for a wetransfer account and put it all there for free DL and put a PDF in each release w/paypal and venmo addresses for anyone who wants to donate. should maybe do that anyways.. it's not like distrokid and streaming is working out. so far in my 2nd year of being on a bunch of streaming services my "bank" on distro kid has $5.79 in it. 

  Quote

Faircamp

A static site generator for audio producers

https://simonrepp.com/faircamp/

... a tad techy though.

layoffs confirmed

https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/16/23919551/bandcamp-layoffs-epic-songtradr

  On 10/16/2023 at 9:40 PM, decibal cooper said:

layoffs confirmed

https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/16/23919551/bandcamp-layoffs-epic-songtradr

Fuck I bought so many records there. I hope they don’t start to temper with my collection 

it's currently the only worthwhile outlet for independent artists. there's nothing else that let's artists interact with fans directly and present their releases in the form that suits them while actually being able to sell things. 

streaming is a joke. 

hopefully they don't totally fuckover everyone who uses bandcamp. 

Looks like they tried to form a union under epic and they got rid of the problem by selling the whole thing off and getting rid of half the staff