The American online audio distribution platform Bandcamp is said to be in heavy waters after being acquired by Songtradr – if you have to believe many musicians – but is it really?

Founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, Bandcamp was initially acquired by Epic Games in March 2022, which sold the company to Songtradr in 2023 following layoffs at Epic Games in September 2023. The sale led to employment uncertainties for Bandcamp staff, with only about half receiving job offers from Songtradr.

Songtradr itself is a leading music licensing platform, connecting artists with brands and creators for licensing purposes. As of 2019, it was the world’s largest such platform, housing over 400,000 artists from 190 countries, and facilitating music licensing for various media projects. Artists on Songtradr can upload their music and set their own licensing fees.

Bandcamp post-acquirement by Songtradr

The reaction to Bandcamp’s acquisition by Songtradr and the subsequent layoffs has been met with concern and criticism from both the music community and Bandcamp’s staff. The layoffs, which affected approximately half of Bandcamp’s workforce, have been a major point of contention. Many of these laid-off employees took to social media to express their disappointment and frustration, revealing a sense of betrayal given the prior assurances about the continuity of operations at Bandcamp​.

The layoffs included key members of Bandcamp’s staff union, Bandcamp United, which has since filed an unfair labor practice violation claim with the National Labor Relations Board against Songtradr and Epic Games.

CEO Paul Wiltshire of Songtradr however has announced that he plans to introduce licensing opportunities to Bandcamp artists, potentially broadening their reach and income. This move, focused on enhancing artists’ control over their music rights and revenue, actually dovetails with Songtradr’s mission of simplifying music licensing and boosting the value of music rights.

In an interview Wiltshire explains that Songtradr’s strategy has been buying companies (such as Bandcamp) “that really marry that vision of simplifying licensing.” And he adds: “The strategy around Bandcamp was: We’re seeing a trend in the market where music is becoming increasingly important in brands and games and fitness apps and meditation apps, all these different touchpoints. And we’ve seen an increased trend in brands in particular: They want to know about the artist who’s behind the music.”

Songtradr has also committed to maintaining popular Bandcamp initiatives like Bandcamp Fridays, which enhance earnings for artists and labels: “We looked at the business model, and we love the business as it is; there’s no plans to change the existing model. What we wanted to do was connect licensing to the Bandcamp offering.”

Licensing via Songtradr would be an opt-in only basis for the artists so that they continue to control their rights and control their destiny. “We’ve seen what happens when an independent artist has a license it can be quite transformational in terms of streaming numbers. We’ve licensed music to TikTok and suddenly an artist has blown up unexpectedly because brands got ahold of it. We really believe in licensing as being a key driver for your expanded awareness of an artist’s career.”

AI enters the field via Musicube

Interesting enough Songtradr uses the AI company Musicube which they also bought. Musicube scans the audio files and creates metadata points that describe it in simple terms like mood and BPM, and, and here’s the big USP, it can predict the audience that would most align with sections of the song right down to small fractions, like five seconds.

Considering the acquisition of Bandcamp by Songtradr, it’s realistic to anticipate that many artists on the platform may experience new opportunities for licensing income. Songtradr, with its focus on connecting artists with brands and content creators for licensing purposes, opens up a new realm of potential for Bandcamp artists. While not every artist might pursue or succeed in licensing their music, the integration with Songtradr’s extensive licensing network increases the likelihood for many artists to find new revenue streams.

Moreover, Songtradr’s acquisition could lead to a broader exposure for artists, as their music might find its way into various forms of media like advertising, films, and digital content. This expanded visibility not only potentially increases licensing income but also helps in building an artist’s brand and audience base.

Lot’s of mights, but Rome wasn’t built in one day either.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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On most first Fridays of the month since March of 2020, Bandcamp has waived their revenue share to provide additional support to the artists and labels who form the backbone of Bandcamp’s community “and without whom we would not exist” so the company adds. Over the course of those 26 Fridays, fans have spent more than $91 million dollars (!!) with each Bandcamp Friday generating millions of dollars of extra income for artists and labels.

So will they continue doing this? It looks like it as Bandcamp now communicated that “We’re going to keep a good thing going in 2023, and will hold the next Bandcamp Friday on February 3rd. We’ll share dates for the rest of the year soon.”

Bandcamp even launched the page https://isitbandcampfriday.com which is your first (or second) result when you search for the following phrase, “Is it Bandcamp Friday”, in Google.

Bandcamp is by large one of the biggest moneymakers now for indie labels and bands, and offers a direct communication channel for those labels and bands towards fans who buy from the service. No other music service is offering this direct communication tool nor will they offer this anytime soon. And knowing that there are still a bunch of labels that are still not on Bandcamp…

Bandcamp was founded in 2007 by Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, headquartered in Oakland, California, US. Over the years they also enabled selling merchandise and as of August 2020, half of Bandcamp’s revenue was from sales for physical products including two million vinyl sales in 2020 doubling that of 2019.

Bandcamp was acquired by Epic Games on March 2, 2022, Epic Ganes said that the platform “will play an important role in Epic’s vision to build out a creator marketplace ecosystem and that Bandcamp will keep operating as a stand-alone marketplace and music community.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Major news from Bandcamp. Ethan Diamond, Bandcamp co-founder and CEO has just announced that Bandcamp is joining Epic Games, who you may know as the makers of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, and as it happens also champions for a fair and open Internet as you might have noticed in recent press coverage.

In a message sent out roughly 20 minutes ago Diamond says that Bandcamp will keep operating as a standalone marketplace and music community, and he will continue to lead the team.

Diamond: “The products and services you depend on aren’t going anywhere, we’ll continue to build Bandcamp around our artists-first revenue model, 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.”

Since their founding in 2008 Bandcamp has paid artists and labels close to $1 billion USD.

What does the future bring?

Diamond wants a collaboration to also offer a lot more benefit to the artists, labels, and fans who use the site: “We share a vision of building the most open, artist-friendly ecosystem in the world, and together we’ll be able to create even more opportunities for artists to be compensated fairly for their work.”

Our chief editor Bernard Van Isacker also received the press message and we quickly pinged him for a first reaction: “There a few things which I think of that could well become part of Bandcamp in the near future. I would not be surprised they embrace cryptocurrencies in the near future. Epic Games is not currently using the tech or cryptocurrencies in its own games, but I wouldn’t be surprised they will implement it sooner or later. Epic Games has already confirmed it is open to selling video games that use blockchain and NFTs through its store. It could become a big revolution in how music is paid for especially with a volatile currency like cryptocurrency. I know the demand to pay or get paid with cryptocurrencies is big, just do a query on Google and you’ll notice that a lot of people want to use cryptocurrencies on Bandcamp.”

And what about the music itself? Bernard: “I could and would imagine they will also try to use the vaste Bandcamp catalogue to use in their games as well, for instance it would be cool you could choose or buy tracks from the Bandcamp catalogue to play whilst gaming. And that is just the start of what could be happening. Who knows they might also become a full blown aggregator. There is a lot of symbiosis possible when you get two companies like Bandcamp and Epic Games together. It could become epic alright.”

Eldrina Mich

As Eldrina Mich I work as a go-between and a devil’s advocate when it comes to Side-Line. If our own staff needs to be interviewed then ask the questions no one else dares to ask.

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