bandcamp acquired by epic games?!

[kuniklo]

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. 

Edited September 28, 2023 by kuniklo

[Joyrex]

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

[species8472]

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

1 hour ago, 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.

Edited September 28, 2023 by species8472

[kuniklo]

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.

[exitonly]

2 hours ago, 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. 

[auxien]

Bandcamp is a store tho

 alternatives exist they're just not very good

[cloud capture]

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

[ignatius]

On 9/28/2023 at 12:21 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

Edited October 1, 2023 by ignatius

[psn]

Thread. 

 

[o00o]

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 

Edited September 30, 2023 by o00o

[NewSchoolScience]

3 hours ago, psn said:

Thread. 

 

Terrible name

[auxien]

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 

[toaoaoad]

So - this is bad, right?

[iococoi]

17 hours ago, 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/

Edited October 1, 2023 by iococoi

[WurstPLUS]

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..." 

 

Edited October 1, 2023 by WurstPLUS

[o00o]

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?

[Pirtek]

3 hours ago, o00o said:

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

I hope so! I really like using Bandcamp.

[mcbpete]

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/

[iococoi]

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/

[ignatius]

12 minutes ago, 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. 

[iococoi]

Quote

Faircamp

A static site generator for audio producers

https://simonrepp.com/faircamp/

... a tad techy though.

Edited October 12, 2023 by iococoi

[decibal cooper]

layoffs confirmed

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

[o00o]

39 minutes ago, 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 

[ignatius]

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. 

[o00o]

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

Edited October 16, 2023 by o00o