Epic Games to acquire Bandcamp

Didn’t see that coming.

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That is quite leftfield. Hope bandcamp Friday keeps going.

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Fair play, will hopefully enable them to expand & grow……let’s hope they stay true to their original ethos of ensuring the royalties go to the creators

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Just read that and I think it’s a huge bummer. It’s understandable from a business sense, but Epic is massive, and this means bandcamp is no longer truly independent. Which means now it will get into Epic’s idiotic fights with Apple over money, sooner or later, meaning a pain in the ass to use the apps on the iphone etc. Huge huge bummer.

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i don’t see what bandcamp gets out of this deal at all, other than an unholy amount of money.

bandcamp’s greatest asset was it’s goodwill between tech/artist/consumer and all of that stands to be whisked away by cash-rich gamer goofs.

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Interesting. Not necessarily all bad. I’d love it if the Bandcamp player was more sophisticated and you could build playlists etc. They might now be able to make that kind of investment.

Also saw this:

“ According to Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond, “[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.”

The vinyl pressing could be interesting too. And they’ve committed to keeping the artist share at same levels and retaining Bandcamp Fridays.

But ultimately Ethan Diamond took the chance of getting a fat cheque and you can’t blame him.

Let’s see how it all pans out.

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This will end badly. Guaranteed.

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bold prediction:

epic is going to build a gaming/streaming/broadcasting device. they need licensed (or license-free) music, bandcamp gives them access to that library. full combination of gaming/twitch/meta/streaming inbound and outbound.

i could be wrong, but if i’m right, remember and hire me as your next new hight-paid super seer-into-the-future.

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Imagine if the next thing is Epic buy Discogs and merge them together.

They create a single platform for the purchase and streaming of new and second hand digital and physical format music.

I once read Ethan Diamond say that Bandcamp was like a shopping mall full of independent record stores where you could go in and browse. It also has the added dimension that individuals have their own collections for people to browse.

Then think Metaverse: people putting on their VR headsets and going to Bandcamp as the place where they browse in virtual shops or collections, digging in virtual crates.

It will also be the place where new bands/producers/DJs will hold ‘live’ virtual shows and A&R people will virtually hang out to sign them. It becomes SXSW on the Web 3.0.

Or a virtual rave. Imagine the virtual EDM hell that could ensue? Some puffa-clad avatar in the corner serving up NFT Doves.

Whether it sounds awful to us, that’s the kind of stuff that gets these Epic lot excited I bet.

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Fingers crossed this results in a better platform for users and more money for makers.

You can already create playlists in the mobile app. Think it was added in a recent update

Not sure what to make of the takeover. I’m not informed enough on Epic to have an opinion really. Gonna keep an open mind I guess

I didn’t know you could do that. Thanks. Will check it out.

Edit: you are correct. I hadn’t updated the app recently.

That’s a really useful update.

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And so it begins…fuckin tech bro twats

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The doc knew.

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It really was brilliant for a bit

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Hopefully something better will replace it.

Why the fuck can’t they just leave good enough alone…

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maybe Elon will buy it?

Why is this pretty much the standard cycle for every music platform. Mixcloud, Soundcloud, Discogs etc. All start off with great intentions, become popular as a result, then there’s a change of ownership/management and/or they introduce a subscription model, fiddle with the layout, allow ads, the spam bots arrive and then it turns to shit.

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It really was. I’d advise everyone on here to ensure all their purchases are DL’d and backed up somewhere.

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