Epic Games, the US video game developer and publisher behind titles such as Fortnite and Unreal Engine, has announced that it has acquired Bandcamp.
Full details of the acquisition haven’t yet been made available, but Bandcamp co-founder and CEO Ethan Diamond has issued a letter to Bandcamp users stressing that much of the platform will continue to run as normal. "Bandcamp will keep operating as a standalone marketplace and music community, and I will continue to lead our team," Diamond said. "The products and services you depend on aren’t going anywhere, we’ll continue to build Bandcamp around our artists-first revenue model (where artists net an average of 82% of every sale), 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."
His letter added, though, that the company would work alongside 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."
Diamond also said that "while over the years we’ve heard from other companies who wanted us to join them, we’ve always felt that doing so would only be exciting if they strongly believed in our mission, were aligned with our values, and not only wanted to see Bandcamp continue, but also wanted to provide the resources to bring a lot more benefit to the artists, labels, and fans who use the site. Epic ticks all those boxes. 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."
Bandcamp’s next fee-waive Friday is set for this Friday (March 4). Read Diamond’s full letter about Epic’s acquisition of Bandcamp here.
