Epic Games acquires music distribution platform Bandcamp
Epic Games has announced that it intends to acquire Bandcamp, an independent music distribution platform that's allowed musicians to build more reliable revenue streams in the world of digital distribution.
In a blog post, Bandcamp CEO and co-founder Ethan Diamond said that Epic Games will offer resources to "bring a lot more benefit to the artists, labels, and fans who use the site." Bandcamp has built a following in the music world for offering artists an average of 82 percent of revenue off of every sale, a much higher percentage than what musicians see on other digital distribution and streaming platforms.
The company also hosts regular "Bandcamp Fridays" where artists can collect 100 percent of revenue on all sales.
Diamond states that Bandcamp will be continuing normal operations while working with Epic Games to expand internationally and build out new services on its platform, including vinyl pressing and livestreaming tech.
The bigger question you may be asking is--why is Epic Games buying up a music business? You might recall that the company recently purchased Harmonix, the game studio known for developing interactive audio experiences like Rock Band and Fuser.
That acquisition strongly revolved around the idea that Harmonix would be working on metaverse-style concerts like the Travis Scott Fortnite performance. It's not unreasonable to assume that Epic wants to use Bandcamp's technology to synergize sales for whatever experiences Harmonix is cooking up, and utilizing Bandcamp's artist-first revenue model would be a reliable way to attract the attention of musical talent it needs to seriously sell this arm of the metaverse.
What's savvy about this move is that most of Epic Games' competition isn't looking too hard
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