Fortnite developer Epic Games has acquired Bandcamp, the music company announced in a tweet on Wednesday. The post included a lengthy explanation by Ethan Diamond, Bandcamp co-founder and CEO, about how this will impact their operation.
Bandcamp is joining Epic Games! Read more here: https://t.co/dvLEhURZYG pic.twitter.com/4t1MRvugmG
— bandcamp (@Bandcamp) March 2, 2022
Diamond said the platform will continue to operate as a standalone marketplace and music community with him remaining to lead the team. Additionally, he said Bandcamp will maintain its artist’s first revenue model, where artists will get 82% of every sale.
Other aspects of the site will also remain the same; Bandcamp Fridays, a weekly event where Bandcamp waives their revenue sharing fees in order to give artists 93% of the money for every purchase instead of the usual 82%. Their blog the Daily will still highlight artists weekly.
While the details of the deal have not been made public, Diamond said the goal of the deal is to push the platform toward a larger international audience and push development forward on their site.
“Behind the scenes we’re working with Epic to expand internationally and push development forward across Bandcamp,” Diamond wrote. “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.”
According to Diamond, several companies have tried to acquire Bandcamp, but Epic Games ticks all the company’s boxes and “strongly believe in their mission.”
“We share a vision of building the most open, artist-friendly ecosystem in the world.” Diamond said on the merger. “And together we’ll be able to create even more opportunities for artists to be compensated fairly for their work.”
