5 Months After Acquisition by Epic Games, Bandcamp Sold Again, Casting Doubt Over Artist-Friendly Model
The end of September brought another dizzying blow to the workforce of indie audio distribution platform Bandcamp. Only 5 months after the service’s high profile acquisition by Epic Games, it was announced that 16% of the workforce would be laid off, and Bandcamp would be sold to Songtradr. Immediately after the announcement, key Bandcamp employees began losing access to critical systems, leaving the system without critical oversight. This latest spell of turmoil at the company casts confusion over one of the only streaming services that seems to operate with the artists in mind.
Since its founding in 2007, Bandcamp has been lauded as one of the few truly ‘artist-friendly’ distributors and streaming platforms, directly contributing to the rise of many popular independent artists and standing against the predatory practices of other giants like Spotify. Bandcamp provided hope for smaller artists in the streaming era, paying artists 82% of every transaction. In an interview with NPR, Bandcamp CEO and founder Ethan Diamond explained that his platform was fundamentally built to serve the artists, rather than appeal to classic organizational models that have strained the agency and profitability of artists:
“I think of Bandcamp as a music company first, because I think of who we serve as first and foremost the artist. And the way to best serve artists happens to be through technology, a particular model of technology that our business is based on. I mean, the mission of the company is, I think, fairly unique”(NPR Music, 19 Aug. 2020).
Bandcamp’s artist-forward approach was heralded by independent artists for shaking up what had become an increasingly predatory and top-down model in the music industry. In the past, Bandcamp described its mission as an effort “to help spread the healing power of music by building a community where artists thrive through the direct support of their fans, and where fans gather to explore the amazing musical universe that their direct support helps create.” This focus on fostering and building community runs contrary to the complex organizational structures of large record labels, and this move towards more direct involvement between artists and their fans has greatly expanded the role the creators have over the business side of their product. These changes have been celebrated by the DIY community since the inception of Bandcamp and its novel business model were celebrated by many with growing concern over the state of the modern music industry, as fans have appreciated their increased access to artists, and artist have enjoyed more creative autonomy, circumventing the need for many market professionals.
With Bandcamp finding itself in turmoil once more, however, doubt has now been cast over whether paying artists fairly in the streaming-dominated industry will be possible going forward—in a time already dominated by artists’ concern over the impact generative AI will have on the music industry.
Epic Games’ Sale of Bandcamp Has Left the Wired: Artist-Friendly Music Platform in Limbo - Wired
Insight from this week
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