Kickstarter / Bandcamp / etc - C or D?

Huh.

Apparently Bandcamp got bought by is joining Epic Games (Fortnite)?

https://blog.bandcamp.com/2022/03/02/bandcamp-is-joining-epic/

Wondering what this means for the payment system.

Well I'm not seeing any NFT mentions so that's a good sign.

is this an acquisition or just a partnership? it's really vague about that and it's the part that matters most which makes me assume its the worse case

Yeah, it's the vagueness that unsettles me, plus the bit about "push(ing) development forward" on the payment system. Having seen how Fortnite does it's payment system, this could be an adjustment.

I was trying to figure that out too, it's very odd. I assume that it's a euphemism for an acquisition, from the "we're joining them" language.

And while over the years we’ve heard from other companies who wanted us to join them...

Not the other way around, or "wanted to work together", etc.

Best case scenario is Epic just wants to use Bandcamps model/software/payment system for selling games, and leaves Bandcamp the hell alone?

There's absolutely no way, if the payment system or software changes, that it doesn't go the other direction.

Epic's game store is huge, although Steam is still considerably larger. I think the monthly user numbers are something like 50 million, and they've dropped millions of dollars on time-limited giveaways of games just to lure people into their ecosystem.

I think the big play here is that Epic can use music as another wedge against Apple not allowing in-app purchases that aren't funneled through Apple's payment system or allowing apps that aren't through the App Store.

Yeah the whole Epic/Apple thing is what I’ve been thinking about here.

https://github.com/easlice/bandcamp-downloader
someone might find this useful, it's a way to download your entire collection
because the individual album method takes forEVAH

Ned to thread!

Fuck yes, hate buying a label discography and then needing to wait and press DOWNLOAD on 75 different items.

doesn't really seem like the epic acquisition changed anything, as far as i've seen

Yeah, I'm glad there's been no major enshittification so far.

Just wait

They're still letting me write for them, clearly a disaster wait hold on.

Deeply concerned about Bandcamp, Patreon and Mixcloud, thankfully all three are still ok, but this can't last forever.

Why Patreon?

Because it seems like any of these companies are liable to be bought out & ruined by a venture capitalist. They have made the right calls so far, on the whole.

patreon succeeds despite itself and its ownership imo

Only problem with Bandcamp I have had recently is really slow downloads every now and then, which is annoying when you’re trying to download 50 albums on a Bandcamp Friday.

Bandcamp unionized:

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/bandcamp-union-1234695308/

Nice!

Initial petition delivered, public campaign call on Monday:

https://bit.ly/bcu-update

Love BC
Use it all day
Just stop adding shit
Not going to end well

otm

adding what?

needless "functionality" and bloatware (guessing at what calstars meant here but that's my take)

Ned's link is to register for a Zoom webinar FYI

yeah IDGI

doh

it’s the link to a public meeting to rally support for the bandcamp employee union afaict

Yup!

I'm really surprised more bands don't just chuck up a whole bunch of soundboard recordings of their shows for a few bucks each. Seems an easy way to make some money without much extra effort.

Like this: https://bspliveseries.bandcamp.com/

Some bands don't like to have live recordings out there unless they're properly curated, mixed and so on. Plus, it might adversely affect sales should they decide to release a proper live album later.

I guess that’s so, but I would imagine the people who buy live albums tend to be completists anyway.

Update from Bandcamp United:

--

After an unnecessary hearing brought by our employer’s lawyers, the NLRB dismissed the case and has issued a date for our election. We’ll be voting by mail, and our ballots will be counted shortly after.
We’re calling on our supporters to stop sending emails to Ethan as we focus on casting our votes for our union.
If we see any more union busting in the coming weeks we’ll be sure to let our supporters know.
We’re grateful for the support that you have shown us in the Fediverse, and by signing our petition and emailing our leadership.
It made a big difference in proving to our employers that we have the backing of the Bandcamp community, and that we stand together in asking management to do the right thing.
Please share your messages of support on social media on why you think a union is good for Bandcamp (Please tag us so we can see them.)
To summarize:
We have an election date!
You can stop emailing Ethan (but thank you for your support in that campaign.)
Thank you for your continued support of our campaign.
Solidarity forever!

Epic sold Bandcamp?

it sounds like the writers for the bandcamp reviews/etc are either laid off or bailing, which sucks

yep, being discussed here

Thread for awesome stuff on Bandcamp that costs money but is still awesome

Damn, if they lose the editorial side, that's a huge loss and a bad sign.

Epic is doing layoffs with its remaining companies but is anyone saying they've been laid off from Bandcamp yet?

i think they just sold it off, rather than axe personnel

does anyone else have a bad feeling that bandcamp is just going to die by a thousand cuts and be left in the ether like myspace? i have a few albums i want to put out next year, and the thought of uploading them there just feels like dumping into a void to me. am i too pessimistic about this? i'd rather just make CDs and ship them out, but i also don't want to limit access or be awkward about it...

I wouldn't stop uploading to Bandcamp (all my stuff is on there) but I'd start looking at similar alternative sites as well.

Gotta love the new Bandcamp:

Subtotal: 2.00
Additional fan contribution: 3.00
Revenue share (15%): -0.75
Applied to your revenue share balance*: -3.94
Payment processor fee (PayPal): -0.31
Your share: $0.00 USD

How can we have a 'revenue share balance' if they take their cut right off the top anway? Bullshit

that is not a new bandcamp thing though, i see it in payments as early as 2015

i dont understand why, but for physical sales they dont take the revenue share cut on the actual transaction, they bill it against future digital sales

Maybe because they're not involved in fulfillment? Whereas with digital they're in charge of everything