Epic Games buys Bandcamp, says 'fair and open platforms are critical'

pcgamer.com:

Epic Games has acquired Bandcamp, the popular music marketplace that's widely regarded as the artist-friendly choice for modern music consumption. Unlike music streaming services like Spotify, which pay artists a fraction of a cent per song stream, Bandcamp is a place for artists to sell album streaming and download licenses directly to fans. The site takes a 10-15% cut of digital sales after payment processing fees, and also facilitates the sale of physical items such as t-shirts and vinyl albums. The closest analogue in games is itch.io.

Bandcamp co-founder and CEO Ethan Diamond will continue to run the company, and said in a statement that Bandcamp's current services won't change as a result of the acquisition. «The products and services you depend on aren’t going anywhere,» he said, and the «artists-first revenue model» won't be changed. 

«Behind the scenes,» however, Diamond says that Epic's ownership will allow Bandcamp to «expand internationally» and improve the website, tools, apps, payment system, and discovery features. Bandcamp also plans to work with Epic to advance its newer vinyl pressing and livestreaming offerings.

The acquisition is somewhat similar to Epic's 2021 purchase of ArtStation, a website where visual artists, especially digital artists, can share their portfolios and buy and sell assets and reference material.

«Fair and open platforms are critical to the future of the creator economy,» Epic said today in a post on its website. «Epic and Bandcamp share a mission of building the most artist friendly platform that enables creators to keep the majority of their hard-earned money. Bandcamp will play an important role in Epic's vision to build out a creator marketplace ecosystem for content,