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

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.

End of that piece says it all:

Songtradr’s editorial blog has marketing-focused articles with titles like “Rock Music is the Perfect Condiment For This Fast Food Brand,” which goes on to methodically and statistically analyze the music in Taco Bell ads. Bandcamp’s most recently published feature, on the other hand, is titled, “Imperial Crystalline Entombment, Black Metal Mysterians, Break the Ice.”

natural bedfellows, clearly

at this point I just want to know how to support writers and musicians and the latter seems like still buying releases in some shape or form

Throw money on the stage while they’re performing.

Very happy on the rare occasions I see a tip jar on a merch table, because I don’t really want a t-shirt I’ll never wear.

End of that piece says it all:

Songtradr’s editorial blog has marketing-focused articles with titles like “Rock Music is the Perfect Condiment For This Fast Food Brand,” which goes on to methodically and statistically analyze the music in Taco Bell ads. Bandcamp’s most recently published feature, on the other hand, is titled, “Imperial Crystalline Entombment, Black Metal Mysterians, Break the Ice.”

just as i thought it wasn't possible for things to get any more depressing....

Having now gone fully digital, this feels as awful as when I'd start to notice the deterioration of a favourite record store and begin to dread its death spiral that'd likely happen within the year

Those of you who are downloading all their stuff.. What are you doing to do this? I just use the app... But would be nice to have the mp3s.

i don't even have a bandcamp account, i just buy things using paypal and get a download link on the completion page and sent to my paypal email address.

am hoping this doesn't go away.

also, i've just noticed, if i go back to a release i've previously bought it knows and says "<3 you own this" and links to a page which has all my purchases and links to redownload.

(i'm guessing i must have a bandcamp account given it knows all this about me, and on the work laptop too)

Even without an account it remembers all your past purchases via the associated email.

Downloaded everything as I bought it, thank fuck; can’t imagine the tedium of now trying to download 6000 albums in one go.

I've seen people recommending this for downloading:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/batchcamp/jfcffbaekgnenlohblfgpohgdhalgjeb

(though I don't think Bandcamp is actually going away anytime soon)

Downloaded everything as I bought it, thank fuck; can’t imagine the tedium of now trying to download 6000 albums in one go.

They could probably reconstruct the entire website just from your downloads, Ned.

Those of you who are downloading all their stuff.. What are you doing to do this? I just use the app... But would be nice to have the mp3s.

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, October 18, 2023 3:55 AM (five hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

You log into the website and click the little heart in the upper right hand corner and it shows you your collection? Unless you're talking about leeching the whole thing at once, in which case Jordan's suggestion is good

would highly recommend grabbing everything in the lossless format of your choice if you have the space

I just looked and I've made over 500 bandcamp purchases. I guess that's the leak in my budget

(to be fair, I did do the "buy entire back catalog" option on several artists when they had deep discounts)

I just looked and I've made over 500 bandcamp purchases. I guess that's the leak in my budget

Oh believe me, imagine how I feel. But turn it around, how happy am I that all that cash went mostly to the artists and labels? Incredibly so. They needed/need it more than I.

yep I have zero regrets about sending Edward Ka-Spel probably hundreds of dollars over the last decade or so