Epic Game, the developer of the well-known video game Fortnite, has reportedly acquired Bandcamp, an online music marketplace.
In a statement, Bandcamp CEO and Founder Ethan Diamond expressed that the acquisition would enable the company to create more opportunities for artists to be fairly compensated for their work.
Epic Games has stated that the Bandcamp acquisition is part of the company’s expansive vision for open and fair platforms which it considers crucial to the future of the economy of creators.
This seems to be a subtle response by the developer to tech giants Google and Apple, since their payment models are considered dangerous by the company as it looks to expand its gaming services in the metaverse.
Interestingly, it is unusual for a video game firm to acquire a music platform, but the move comes as a result of recent major acquisitions including Microsoft’s proposal to acquire Activision Blizzard for nearly USD 68.7 billion as well as Sony acquiring Bungie for USD 3.6 billion.
The CEO asserted that the company would continue to operate as an independent community and marketplace with Epic helping with an opportunity to expand globally and broaden tool development. This would help improve factors of the Bandcamp experience like merch tools, mobile apps, album pages, payment system, along with search, and discovery features.
However, many artists using Bandcamp have expressed doubt regarding this acquisition. This is because smaller services often suffer when acquired by bigger organizations.
Musicians like Mel Stone believe that the acquisition is not a great idea as these artists make most of their money off Bandcamp along with Patreon and touring. They think that an independent musician would be significantly affected even if one of their financial resources is affected.
Epic’s previous non-gaming acquisition Houseparty was shut down by the company in 2021 in less than two years of taking over. However, Bandcamp has a larger current fanbase and a transparent economic model in comparison to Houseparty and is widely considered as music streaming alternative to Spotify.
Source credit:
https://www.vice.com/en/article/pkpx78/epic-games-just-bought-bandcamp-for-some-reason
