Pretty much sums it up for me.
Sure there’s the concern that Epic will fuck it all up (I have absolutely zero doubt they will fuck it all up. No chance something like Bandcamp Fridays would have run under Epic ownership), but more than that is just the depressing crushing reality of our inability to sustain nice easygoing things rather than get caught up in (or crushed by) the hypercapitalist grind.
Yes. Hypercapitalism sucks the life out of everything.
interesting thread.
also, down the road… if someone like sony or whatever… buys Epic games then everything under that umbrella is along for the ride.
i hope whatever happens it stays as is for a while anyways…
Bandcamp has been courting big labels for years. A great many things bandcamp has been working on will come better and faster thanks to a huge increase in resources. My wife works there. I’m not sure how much of what I know is secret hahaha, so sorry if I pop up with bold but vague statements for the next few years.
a friend of a friend works ther and said that bandcamp’s growth has been strong… exponential… and they’ve had a hard time gathering resources and hiring people to keep up. so, supposedly this infusion of cash is very necessary if they’re going to take advantage of momentum.
i hope that’s the case. would be nice to see bandcamp get a leg up in the distribution game. it’s my fav platform for distribution and downloads.
the majority of people freaked out when Facebook bought their precious Instagram and it turned out ok.
i’m assuming the same thing will happen here. just more funding to continue implementing & expanding.
i don’t think Epic will interfere much with the way things are ran. more so just overlooking and helping achieve their financial goals.
but then again you never know.
Yeah that sounds accurate to me 
Build a following with things you own and control. Like an artist website, with fan email lists and phone numbers?
I don’t know honestly, but this is the case when you rely on a service you don’t control that may not exist tomorrow.
I’m just going to ask the obvious question here. How many artists on BC make music in the hopes that it will be licensed to fucking video games? That’s gotta be the least independent, least underground and least punk rock shit ever.
This does not bode well in my view. Hypercapitalism just turns art into content.
I haven’t, but a friend of mine’s band has, and made a several thousand bucks with a single video game license on a single song. The game hasn’t come out yet. Might never, might flop; either way, they gave a one-off license to the game and retained rights.
Personally, I’ve made far more on bandcamp than any other platform. Don’t see any reason to leave until they give me one.
I still own all my own music copyrights, all my music and publishing rights are BMI registered, etc. They can’t take them from me because of that.
So : not worried until I have a reason to be.
shrug. “we’ll see”
when i go to the grocery store i never have to take out my wallet to pay for the food… I buy groceries with punk rock street cred.
being Fugazi is hard especially now. it’d be nice if we could all follow their example but i think there are compromises people make to survive. i wouldn’t mind if a video game wanted to license a song of mine and slap fortnite dances over it if it meant i could spend my time making more music instead of spending time in a cubicle or whatever.
tape trading and mail art is the next cool thing to do
you think instagram is ok?
I just wonder what is the real difference between selling an album on bandcamp, and just having your own website and selling it there
Really? U can’t see any difference?
Everything Epic bought in recent years stayed the same, or became better, BC is bought for easier licensing for the future i imagine, that’s a win win for anyone, also Fortnite is one thing, but Unreal Engine is industry leading engine for all sorts of AAA games, indies, and in recent years cinema.
edit: maybe volume slider will finally appear in BC 
edit2:
Bought Artstation dropped fees for artist to 12% instead of 30%.
Bought Quixel, everything became free.
Bought Scetchfab dropped fees to 12% also.
Lots of other services became free, or in favour of the creator.
of course there is a difference
my question is more if, does being on bandcamp actually drive sales for artists?
i would argue it’s something else… something in the ether… word of mouth… hype elsewhere… that drives clicks to bandcamp.
how do artists here find what they sell on bandcamp does in terms of sales - when peeps drop a link here to their bandcamp release… are they getting a tonne of sales? selling 3 or 4 copies? maybe 10?
i would argue most people have that experience. most folk just listen a bit and move and dont purchase.
there’s probably a tipping point where being on a service like bandcamp is a boon
but is that the label, or bandcamp, or the artist, or what?
hot releases have a lot of those little profile pics of people. it makes it look cool. but was that bandcamp, or the actual momentum behind the act irrespective of bandcamp?
I’m not stoked about the news at all, but what’s not promising about them dropping their commission from 30% to 12% in favor of the artist?
