Google wants 10% of your Bandcamp earnings
Photo by Kai Wenzel on Unsplash
This story has gone under the radar for many music fans, but Google is after a cut of your Bandcamp earnings (if you release music via the platform that is). Luckily, Bandcamp has now temporarily won the right to use its own payments system on Google Play until Epic’s case with Google is resolved, per a new court agreement so Bandcamp announces. As you might remember, Bandcamp was acquired by Epic in March.
This means Bandcamp’s fans will be able to continue to support their favorite artists on Android devices by buying music and merchandise, as they have since 2015, and artists will receive the same percentage of sales, as usual. Google will not be able to de-list the Bandcamp app from the Google Play Store, nor delay or refuse to distribute its app updates as part of the new agreement.
Bandcamp will however place 10% of the revenue generated by the digital sales on Android devices in escrow until Epic’s lawsuit with Google is decided. If Google gets its way per a new court agreement Bandcamp will have to either pass Google’s fees on to consumers (making Android a less attractive platform for music fans), pass fees on to artists (which they will never do), permanently run their Android business at a loss, or turn off digital sales in the Android app.
In the latter case the app would become similar to its iOS version, which currently lacks in-app purchases for digital songs to avoid giving Apple a cut.
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