Bandcamp joins Epic Games, which is behind the games, among other things. Fortnite, Unreal and Gars of War.
Bandcamp co-founder Ethan Diamond made the announcement via the blog of its platform. “Bandcamp will continue to operate as a self-contained marketplace and music community,” said Diamond, who will remain in his role.
The products and services you depend on won’t go away, we’ll continue to build Bandcamp around our artist-first revenue model (where artists receive an average of 82% of every sale), you’ll still have the same control over how you submit your music, Bandcamp Fridays will continue as planned, and the Daily will continue to showcase the site’s diverse and amazing music. However, behind the scenes, we’re working with Epic to expand internationally and drive the development of Bandcamp forward, from core elements like album pages, mobile apps, merchandising tools, payment system and search and discovery functions, to newer initiatives like our vinyl pressing and live streaming services.
Ethan Diamond
The general manager of Bandcamp recalls, in his publication, that since the beginnings of Bandcamp in 2008, companies have tried to join forces. “And while over the years other companies have asked us to join them, we always thought it would only be interesting if they believed strongly in our mission, if they were in line with our values, and if they wanted to not only see Bandcamp continue, but also provide the resources to bring much more benefit to the artists, labels and fans who use the site,” Diamond says. “Epic fulfills all of these conditions. We share a vision to build the world’s most open and user-friendly ecosystem for artists, and together we can create even more opportunities for artists to be fairly compensated for their work.
This isn’t the first time Epic Games has dipped its toe in the musical pool. Fortnitearguably the most popular game in the franchise, featured shows from Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, J Balvin and Dominic Fike to name a few. In addition, the virtual exhibition within the framework of the box Kid A Mnesia from Radiohead had been created by Epic Games, NameTheMachine and Arbitrarily Good Productions.
