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

just came here to post the same, thanks everyone!

Happy Bandcamp Friday, sign the petition as linked above, also read this

https://www.wired.com/story/epic-games-sale-bandcamp-music-platform-limbo/

At least one person I know has been laid off from Bandcamp Daily. Let the ugh begin...

Yeah, fucking garbage right there.

ugh

officially laid off, after two weeks of limbo where i expected that would be the case but had no confirmation. nearly eight years at bandcamp and it’s over. if anyone is looking for a dedicated, talented, and professional editor and culture writer, i’m on the market

— jj skolnik (@modernistwitch) October 16, 2023

fuck this

I've heard of at least one other layoff, I suspect there will be more.

this fucking sucks. some of the most insightful criticism and useful deep dives on the entire internet.

GRIM!!

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.
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.
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.
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.
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.

craven fucking tech philistines

https://x.com/la_meme_young/status/1713971812550271163?s=46&t=u2ZSlsY3trRV36IPP6jNDQ

Gallows satire that's probably barely an exageration of where Bandcmap will be in a few months (weeks? days?)

Bandcamp is now Bndcmpr! Gt yr Mzk on!™

THE streaming source for all ur Mzk needs!

Kēp it Rēl™ with personalized AI recs! Why let fancy "writers" who "love music" gategeep u?

U r now free from "buying" or "downloading"!

Contentists, we still got u--$0.0035 per stream! pic.twitter.com/ojTUQa5j8H

— Musicophilia - @musicophilia.bsky.social (@musicophiliamix) October 16, 2023

about half the company was laid off today. some of the most incredible people i’ve ever worked with, including two of my amazing editorial colleagues @diamonde and @atoosamoinzadeh and most of the incredible support staff among many others. this is a loss, no two ways about it

— jj skolnik (@modernistwitch) October 16, 2023

xxxxpost the person who wrote that is *not* a craven tech philistine. it's also entirely possible they were lied to.

to be fair, it's also possible that BD *will* continue as usual (public-facing, at least) and that writers *will* continue to get paid for their work. they didn't lay off everyone in editorial.

You don't sack Marc Masters. Fucking idiots.

Yeah, I wasn't referring to the writer of that particular copy, and I have no doubt that person was lied to. Was referring to the soulless landlords responsible for this. Sorry that wasn't clear, just fuming right now

xp

Another email from the surviving editor (who is 100% a Good Dude) just hit my inbox:

I feel like the chaos of the transition is a breeding ground for misinformation, so I wanted to let you know that Bandcamp Daily isn't going anywhere. Myself, Mariana Timony, Zoe Camp and Josie Keefe are still on board full time, and we'll still be accepting your pitches and publishing at our regular cadence.

We do still have to transition over to whatever payment system Songtradr is using for invoices (Please, God, not Workday....) but we just ask you hang in there and continue to be patient with us as the dust settles. Thank you!

understood, Paul. the whole thing sucks.

also, who said they sacked Masters? they didn't. rumor control, plz.

Just want to say also Fuck Epic Games.

I'll never understand why people can't be happy running a successful company that's not public or owned by another company.

Oh I forgot, the only point of starting a business now is to sell it for a shitload of money and to not give a fuck what happens to it after that.

otm

Just want to say also Fuck Epic Games.

The problem was Ethan Diamond and Shawn Grunberger.

Just want to say also Fuck Epic Games.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

i.e., Epic acquisition was a bailout

Why did they need a bailout?

I doubt the story is substantial different than the dozens of similar stories we’ve heard about a pandemic boom and cheap money.

I'll never understand why people can't be happy running a successful company that's not public or owned by another company.

Easier said than done and maybe obvious and I'm certainly not blameless here but it seems to me if people opted to support these small companies instead of (rather than in addition to) Amazon and Netflix and Spotify, companies like Bandcamp might survive and even flourish without needing to take money from those that ultimately and invariably destroy them

I know, I know. I dream an impossible dream. But I'm an idealist, I guess [cue opening strains of "Imagine"]

As posted on Bandcamp United's IG page an hour back:

Today, Epic Games’ sale of Bandcamp to Songtradr closed and at least half of Bandcamp’s staff was laid off. This is heartbreaking. We love our jobs, the platform we’ve built, and the Bandcamp community. We’re glad we have our union — coworkers who have each other’s backs. We’ll be moving together to decide our next steps. On Wednesday we return to the bargaining table with Epic Games, and we’ll keep you updated. Love and solidarity to the whole Bandcamp community. Thank you for your support.

xp correct. but convenience and lower cost rule over everything else for like 97% of people, unfortunately. it's more true now than ever.

i guess that's why i hoped bandcamp would fly under the radar for these tech bros ... it's really aimed at a certain type of music fan, as opposed to someone who just wants convenience.

Yeah, when I mentioned it to my civilian (non-musician) friends recently, including a woman who works at Spotify, no one had even heard of Bandcamp.

Not good.

Anil Prasad pulls no punches.

https://www.facebook.com/innerviews/posts/pfbid0aYhzC9sZ2Y9ugnVrtP4jTnfX6mdgVz2JvUBLGLfkg5vRBgHU3BjVthfszvhcNXWQl

Also, this Bluesky post is disconcerting to say the least:

https://bsky.app/profile/sorenspicknall.bsky.social/post/3kbxqnq6c7k27

One aspect of the Bandcamp news that isn't likely to get deep reporting, but matters to me and some others in scenes I run in - some of the staff impacted by layoffs were responsible for acting on reports of e.g. neonazi music on the platform. With their teams demolished, that shit will proliferate.

fuck I didn't even think about that, this all sucks so much

A followup post:

https://bsky.app/profile/sorenspicknall.bsky.social/post/3kbxqqvbip326

Bandcamp earned a reputation for good moderation. Reports were acted on quickly and effectively, by people who knew their way around the symbols and dogwhistles of white supremacist music subgenres. Whatever comes next will probably not match that, with real consequences for funding of these scenes.

so bad.

Two of the four founders are working 9-5s. One is a staff engineer at Oracle. The implication they sold Bandcamp to buy mansions is wild.

buy a mansion, keep your sweet job insurance, what's not to understand?

fuck all four of those guys forever, they literally fucking sold out

and fucked over thousands of artists in the process of making themselves richer

it sounds more like they sold it to pay off the investment capital funders, who probably owned most of it and probably pushed the decision, if not the ability to vote on it?

I don’t think there’s a good answer on how to organically grow a site that can perform the function of a bandcamp. I hardly ever use the streaming they have outside of listening to a couple songs before buying a release, but some musicians seemed to think people used that a lot?

I’ve been buying music for download for eons now, though, although mostly one-offs, bleep.com and boomkat

I hardly ever use the streaming they have outside of listening to a couple songs before buying a release, but some musicians seemed to think people used that a lot

they do! on my label bandcamp the stats indicate that 90% of the plays are from people who are streaming only (ie never purchasing).

OK I am confusing "founders" with "owners" and maybe the founders get a break but my basic outrage level is unchanged

https://pitchfork.com/thepitch/is-bandcamp-as-we-know-it-over/

I stream both stuff I haven't bought and stuff I have *all* the time. I very rarely download what I buy (though I will be downloading it all now).

Bandcamp layoffs disproportionately hit the Oakland company’s union-eligible workers, per @bandcampunited.

- All 8 on bargaining committee laid off
- 3/6 on editorial team
- 12/13 union-eligible support staff
- Two-thirds of union-eligible engineershttps://t.co/uk0X1ZFRW0

— Stephen Council (@stephencouncil) October 18, 2023

Related

https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/bandcamp-bargaining-union-layoffs-songtradr-18432047.php

Or rather I should say direct link to the story.