Bandcamp has been bought by ‘Fortnite’ maker Epic Games

The products and services you depend on aren’t going anywhere”

Bandcamp has been bought by Fortnite maker Epic Games.

Bandcamp announced the news today (March 2) in a lengthy statement on its website.

Bandcamp co-founder and CEO Ethan Diamond said: “Bandcamp will keep operating as a standalone marketplace and music community, and I will continue to lead our team.”

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He continued: “The products and services you depend on aren’t going anywhere, we’ll continue to build Bandcamp around our artists-first revenue model (where artists net an average of 82 per cent of every sale), you’ll still have the same control over how you offer your music, Bandcamp Fridays will continue as planned, and the Daily will keep highlighting the diverse, amazing music on the site.

“However, behind the scenes we’re working with Epic to expand internationally and push development forward across Bandcamp, from basics like our album pages, mobile apps, merch tools, payment system, and search and discovery features, to newer initiatives like our vinyl pressing and live streaming services.”

He added: “Bandcamp’s mission is to help spread the healing power of music by building a community where artists thrive through the direct support of their fans. In Epic, we’ve found a partner who believes as deeply as we do that the future of music, and art itself, depends on the creation of equitable and inclusive communities like the one our fans and artists have helped to build.

“We’re excited to work alongside the Epic team to accelerate the realisation of our mission and pursue our shared goal of empowering more creators in a fair and open way.”

Epic Games also announced the takeover on its website writing that “fair and open platforms are critical to the future of the creator economy.”

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The company continued: “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, technology, games, art, music and more.”

Steve Allison, Vice President and General Manager, Store at Epic Games added: “We couldn’t be more excited to welcome the Bandcamp team to Epic Games.

“Bandcamp has built an incredible community and business where up and coming artists can succeed thanks to the direct support of their fans, with one of the best revenue models and terms in music. This aligns closely with Epic’s approach to supporting creators across all media and enabling them to connect directly with their fans.”

Back in January, Bandcamp announced that their popular Bandcamp Fridays would return in February.

The initiative, which was launched in March 2020 as a way to support artists affected by the coronavirus pandemic, returned on the first Friday in February and is set to continue until at least May 2022 on the first Friday of every month.

As with the previous initiatives, Bandcamp will waive its revenue share for all sales taken on the day, meaning all of the proceeds from sales will go directly to the artists.

Bandcamp said at the end of 2020 that its initiative helped raise over $40million (£28.7million) for artists and labels that year alone.

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