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

I'm really liking the music feed feature on the bandcamp mobile app. The stuff I buy on bandcamp is very specific genre-wise, so that may help, but the recommendations that come up are uniformly good and far more interesting than what I might get on a similar list on something like spotify. A big differentiating factor is that it feels like it is recommending stuff that is clearly related to what I've been listening to and purchasing without simply spitting back the same stuff that I was already listening to.

Epic Games is selling Bandcamp to Songtradr. Now would be a good time to download all your purchases.

Uh, I was nervous when Epic bought Bandcamp, but somehow this makes me even more nervous. Download/backup all your purchases folks. Reports are that it will be sold to Songtradr.

Bloomberg reports that Fortnite developer Epic Games is expected to lay off 16 percent of its workforce, or around 900 people.

In a statement from Tim Sweeney, Epic has confirmed the layoffs. He wrote that the company intends to divest from Bandcamp — an independent music storefront company Epic acquired just last year — and spin off SuperAwesome, a “kid-tech” company that specializes in creating safe online experiences for kids. He also explains that the layoffs are a result of the company “spending way more money than we earn.” Notably, Sweeney does not apologize to his employees for making the business decisions that have resulted in the disruption of roughly 900 lives, saying only that his “optimism” that such spending would not result in layoffs was “unrealistic.”

source: https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/28/23894266/epic-games-layoffs-fortnite-unreal-engine

caught in the xpost

wtf is songtradr and why isn’t bandcamp buying THEM

Ah shit. Apparently they're a huge music licensing company. You'd think they'd only want Bandcamp if they could add all that music to the catalog available to their customers, wonder what that will look like for artists?

Like, best case scenario there are more opportunities for syncs/licensing that generate money for artists...worst case you have to agree to an overall shitty deal via Terms of Service?

sounds about right

if it’s just an opt-in box for artists that lets them allow licensing that might be good. if it’s automatic via a terms of service change then a bunch of people are definitely yanking all their music from the site

I guess I'll try to remain optimistic, but goddamn it feels like we just can't have nice things that work well for both artists and fans.

if it’s just an opt-in box for artists that lets them allow licensing that might be good. if it’s automatic via a terms of service change then a bunch of people are definitely yanking all their music from the site

There's no way. There are a bunch of heavy-duty labels on Bandcamp at this point — there will be squads of lawyers looking over any new licensing language as a result of this acquisition.

That's a good point, and lots of artists already have licensing deals etc

oh for fuck's sake

Does anyone have a source for Bandcamp being sold to Songtradr?

here’s the press release: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/songtradr-acquires-bandcamp-epic-games-162200297.html

Never mind. I found one.
https://www.songtradr.com/blog/posts/songtradr-bandcamp-acquisition

Fucking technothing companies.

Looking at their Twitter (I mean "X") feed, the most vapid corporatespeak Stepford Wives creepiness.

No way this is good.

It's terrible that Bandcamp has become almost the only lifeline for artists to actually get paid. And more terrible that that lifeline will be snipped capriciously by some techfuck for a few dollars.

having had no experience with song licensing or songtradr, is there something specifically bad about them?

Insane

Songtradr is Paul Wiltshire‘s company. Yes, _that_ Paul Wiltshire. They’ve essentially transformed into a holding company.

ah. ugh.

I’m obviously biased since I spent months railing Epic for acquiring Bandcamp and Bandcamp for being acquired (when they were growing and had access to capital). Bandcamp had the opportunity to become a real one. Now I can’t help but think they’ll slowly decline and get punted around every few years.

*grumble*

someone should combine Discogs with Bandcamp

nah Discogs is in its own death spiral

I think it's super useful (could be made even more so) as a database, let alone a platform to buy and sell music

It's definitely surpassed Allmusic and wikipedia as the place to look for album credits, that's for sure.

we've been chronicling the Discogs death spiral here fwiw:

discogs marketplace?

It's terrible that Bandcamp has become almost the only lifeline for artists to actually get paid. And more terrible that that lifeline will be snipped capriciously by some techfuck for a few dollars.

― Soundslike,

100%
i buy most of my new music via bandcamp and this is probably not going to be a good thing ..

Wonder how many people who will lament this admittedly terrible latest development are regular Spotify users

I pay for Spotify. I pay for records. I pay for concert tickets. Eat shit

Can we not do this again?

Wonder how many people who will lament this admittedly terrible latest development are regular Spotify users

I spend at least $100 a month on Bandcamp purchases and $12 a month for Tidal.

If we're doing a moral accounting, these days I spend $0-20 dollars per month on club music on Bandcamp for imaginary DJ gigs and I'm currently gorging myself on the Blue Note and Tzadik catalog's on my wife's Spotify account. But I think there are better threads for us all to list our music consumption habits.

Back to bleep.com then

Sorry, just sort of hugging my security blanket there

Not fun.

Bandcamp employees say they've been locked out of critical systems and unable to do their jobs since Epic announced it was selling.

This will hurt Bandcamp Fridays where 100% of the profits go to artists.

They're bargaining over layoffs and severance.

It's an epic mess. https://t.co/lvA3Nwvvef pic.twitter.com/yJmwvU14Nd

— AmericanTruckSongs9 (@ethangach) October 4, 2023

JJ Skolnik confirmed/shared the union statement and asks people to follow the Twitter/IG Bandcamp United accounts for more as it comes.

Ah shit

here we go.
glad i have downloaded all my purchases.

Bandcamp Daily editor J. Edward Keyes sent this email out yesterday:

With the announcement last week that Bandcamp is being acquired by Songtradr, I wanted to assure you that the Bandcamp Daily will continue as usual, and you will continue to get paid for your work.

Through the end of the month, you should continue to invoice via Workday as you normally do and we will continue to assign work as usual. If there is any change to invoicing once we transition over to Songtradr’s systems we will let you know. We will work hard to ensure there is no disruption in payment or workflows.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we navigate this transition. Any other questions, feel free to reach out and I will answer them as best I can!

Also in response to JJ's post, someone asked if purchases at Bandcamp should be stopped. JJ's response: "no! please continue to support artists through the site." Please keep this in mind.

Yes, you should by all means buy things from my label (and other people, too!).

Bandcamp Friday is indeed in two days!

The best album tape I've ever been a part of came out this week, I hope Bandcamp doesn't implode quite yet (or ever)

I hope Bandcamp doesn't implode quite yet (or ever)

totally.
most of my new/old music is bought via bandcamp these days.

Hes a mate but if you like Mr Fingers style deep house, you should really check this out

https://davemoloney.bandcamp.com/album/rotation-ep

It's going to be really crushing if (when?) we lose Bancamp. Techfucks will leave nothing unruined for a short-term gain.

While the getting is good, trying to raise some $ for a good cause in Mimi Parker's memory, with my new (Bandcamp-only) release:

https://www.twitter.com/musicophiliamix/status/1709305109006442906

God I would hate to lose Bandcamp so much. The ease, convenience and ability to directly support artists and labels has rightly been widely praised, but I also want to just acknowledge how it's made it more convenient to get stuff from foreign artists as more of the jump to Bandcamp. As a specific recent example, Ekrto (home of Circle) has gotten more stuff on there lately and it's a breeze to order from them, where previously you'd have to either wait for a store like Aquarius (RIP) or site like Forced Exposure to list them, if not questionable looking websites that kill you on shipping. It's definitely made it much easier to support artists all over the world.

if we lose bandcamp we will lose a vast number of labels as so many labels now do the vast majority of their sales via it. using my label as an example, on some digital only releases 90% of the total revenue is via bandcamp. i think if we lost bandcamp i'd very likely give up.

To be clear I don't think Bandcamp literally going away is in the cards, but it would suck if they axed the editorial, treated employees poorly, and generally felt bad to use/support as a platform.

yeah, i doubt bandcamp is going to disappear, but it could certainly start sucking.