Epic Games Buys Bandcamp and We’re Pretty Nervous

On March 2nd, 2022, Bandcamp and Epic Games announced that the Gears of War and Fortnite developer-publisher studio had acquired the independent music retailer and streaming services. Like many other independent musicians, music journalists, and general fans of the independent and DIY music scenes, we here at Mad Indie Media are definitely nervous about this new development.

Although the full terms of the acquisition were not made public, Bandcamp and Epic Games both shared some information regarding the sale: Bandcamp CEO and co-founder Ethan Diamond will retain leadership over the service and the marketplace’s share of revenue will not increase, meaning that independent artists will still receive the majority of revenue from their music sales. Diamond states that many other companies have attempted to acquire Bandcamp over the years, but that only Epic Games seemed to align well enough with the platform’s vision to “provide the resources to bring a lot more benefit to the artists, labels, and fans who use the site” to warrant the sale. Epic’s Vice President and General Manager of the Epic Games Store, Steve Allison, explained that Epic believed Bandcamp’s mission aligned with their own and the acquisition would help Epic’s goal of “supporting creators across all media and enabling them to connect directly with their fans.” The investment by Epic will allow Bandcamp to update and improve its virtual storefront, streaming capabilities, and vinyl manufacturing capacity without affecting its support of independent artists, says Diamond.

Epic Games has acquired Bandcamp as of March 2, 2022.

Despite both companies making all the right statements regarding the acquisition, many fans are still concerned about what this could mean for the music marketplace’s future. Epic has borne the brunt of a lot of criticism and controversy over the past few years, both warranted and not. Perhaps the biggest criticisms of Epic Games has been its involvement with Tencent, a Chinese internet company that owns 40% equity in Epic, and its rocky history with exclusivity deals in the Epic Games Store, which has often seen AAA titles be pulled from other games marketplaces like Steam even after pre-orders had already begun. While some criticisms of Epic Games are unwarranted and based predominantly in racist conspiracy theories, others, including some concerns with the handling of sensitive data and user privacy by the company’s virtual storefront, have seemingly been confirmed by the company’s CEO Tim Sweeney. The company has also put much effort into strengthening its image as a fair and equitable games studio as of late, turning hundreds of temp employees into full-time employees with benefits just last month after criticisms of its harmful “tech crunch” workplace atmosphere.

Still, many faithful Bandcamp customers – including the writing staff here at Mad Indie Media – hold some trepidation regarding this recent buyout. Of course, one of the first concerns that arises when hearing about this sale is simply: what does Epic Games, a video game studio, want with a music marketplace and streaming service? Epic has actually been buying several non-game entertainment outlets in an effort to create a “creator economy” since at least 2015, with the studio purchasing the artist portfolio and resource site ArtStation just last year. But shouldn’t we be concerned that a single studio is purchasing many of the few remaining independent art resources and distributors in the pursuit of this “creator economy”? How “fair and open” are these businesses likely to remain if Epic is gobbling them all up to make yet another entertainment monolith in the veins of Sony or Microsoft?

Epic Games is the gaming studio behind Fortnite, and now the primary stakeholder of the independent music marketplace Bandcamp.

More concerns about the acquisition revolve specifically around the artists using the platform. Historically, the Epic Games Store has allowed AAA titles to be sold simultaneously on its platform and other PC games marketplaces, such as Steam, but has forced indie developers into exclusivity contracts that allow the game to only be sold on their platform. Will this policy eventually influence Bandcamp to require music exclusivity, barring musicians from placing their works on other streaming services and marketplaces such as Spotify and Apple Music? Recent concerns about the inclusivity of the business, despite these accusations’ unconfirmed veracity, also call into question whether the breadth of work currently present on Bandcamp will still be supported moving forward. And what will Epic Games, a business in an industry with several international ratings boards that determine what ages a piece of media is appropriate for, do regarding censorship and explicit content warnings for the music hosting via Bandcamp?

At the end of the day, Bandcamp remains one of the few services outside of Amazon Music and iTunes that allow customers to not only stream music, but to buy digital music outright, and the only service of its size to pay independent artists the majority share of the revenue. As musicians and fans alike, it is important that we celebrate when platforms which truly prioritizes musicians and their earning capabilities (such as Bandcamp) are given more opportunities to expand their reach and their share of a market that too often puts artists last. At the same time, we need to stay wary of the businesses that enter this market so as to ensure that independent musicians continue to have the opportunity to earn revenue from that which they put their hearts, souls, and income into. Epic Games acquiring Bandcamp could end in a variety of ways: it could massively increase the power of the music company, it might cause the company’s vision of an artist-focused marketplace to completely crash and burn, or it could lead to absolutely no changes at all. Regardless of the outcome, we will certainly be keeping a close eye on Bandcamp and Epic Games as they start out on this new and uncharted journey together.

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