Jason Schreier had some early reports of Epic also laying off 16% of their staff (900 people) today as well. He also reported this news, but also the news that they are spinning off SuperAwesome...
Curious if Songtradr is a safe steward to take on ownership of Bandcamp. I always worry that artist commission percentages will change, bandcamp fridays will discontinue... that type of thing. I'm...
Curious if Songtradr is a safe steward to take on ownership of Bandcamp. I always worry that artist commission percentages will change, bandcamp fridays will discontinue... that type of thing. I'm surprised Epic didn't squeeze them, so I want to be hopeful, but I know nothing about Songtradr
I had the same thought, so I dug into Songtradr a bit... and came up somewhat optimistic. It's the major music licensing platform right now, founded by the chart-topping musician who is still...
I had the same thought, so I dug into Songtradr a bit... and came up somewhat optimistic. It's the major music licensing platform right now, founded by the chart-topping musician who is still running it. Apparently the upshot here is that it's about to get very easy for anyone to pay for and use the music on Bandcamp in anything from youtube videos to major motion pictures. Bandcamp has been returned to the music world, rather than the gaming industry.
Okay, seems decent on paper at least. Not the "music industry exec" nightmare I was potentially expecting (hopefully), and maybe more opportunities for artists.
Okay, seems decent on paper at least. Not the "music industry exec" nightmare I was potentially expecting (hopefully), and maybe more opportunities for artists.
How can they do that? I mean the union was, as I understand, legally recognised under labour relations rules. Surely that can't cease to be the case just because the management changed? Nothing...
How can they do that? I mean the union was, as I understand, legally recognised under labour relations rules. Surely that can't cease to be the case just because the management changed? Nothing happened to the union itself.
I saw an initial tweet screenshot/link being passed around about this (and subsequent info from Bandcamp United listing their demands) and it certainly has me worried. Made sure I've downloaded...
I saw an initial tweet screenshot/link being passed around about this (and subsequent info from Bandcamp United listing their demands) and it certainly has me worried.
Made sure I've downloaded everything from my collection and preparing for the worst. Hopefully this will get worked out, but it's heading down a bad path so far
Let's hope so. I rather like that it's a musician running things, that's a good sign... however, they are still a publicly traded company, so the specter of enshittification is still in the room.
Let's hope so. I rather like that it's a musician running things, that's a good sign... however, they are still a publicly traded company, so the specter of enshittification is still in the room.
Songtradr is actually a private company my web searches returns me accurate information. And I think Bandcamp is not so quite a "public" traded company in the sense anyone can't buy stocks. And...
Songtradr is actually a private company my web searches returns me accurate information.
And I think Bandcamp is not so quite a "public" traded company in the sense anyone can't buy stocks.
And I'm quite with you with any investors baked companies being the crust of all dysfunctional capitalistic strategies.
But for these two, they are both profitable and not in need of external funding for now, so I would also think Bandcamp is safe for a good amount of time, even with this acquisition.
Slight thread hijack incoming. I’m not sure it is public ownership that drives enshittification, as much as investor ownership. Companies tend to enshittify in anticipation of an ipo, which is...
Slight thread hijack incoming.
I’m not sure it is public ownership that drives enshittification, as much as investor ownership. Companies tend to enshittify in anticipation of an ipo, which is driven by private venture capital.
Public ownership was originally intended to be a democratizing, wealth distributing force, and to some extent still is.
The bigger problem with public ownership (not counting ipo/investor pressure) is the corporate raiding it enables.
Jason Schreier had some early reports of Epic also laying off 16% of their staff (900 people) today as well. He also reported this news, but also the news that they are spinning off SuperAwesome (a "youth marketing solutions company") to be an independent company. The SuperAwesome site frames it as the leaders buying the company out from Epic.
Sounds like a major shakeup is going on at Epic Games.
Interesting considering Epic "just" bought Bandcamp back in March of 2022.
Tildes thread from then.
Yeah, it strikes me as odd that they've already sold it off.
I think they're downsizing in anticipation for a big recession coming. And I'm betting Bandcamp was no where near profitable enough to keep on.
Curious if Songtradr is a safe steward to take on ownership of Bandcamp. I always worry that artist commission percentages will change, bandcamp fridays will discontinue... that type of thing. I'm surprised Epic didn't squeeze them, so I want to be hopeful, but I know nothing about Songtradr
I had the same thought, so I dug into Songtradr a bit... and came up somewhat optimistic. It's the major music licensing platform right now, founded by the chart-topping musician who is still running it. Apparently the upshot here is that it's about to get very easy for anyone to pay for and use the music on Bandcamp in anything from youtube videos to major motion pictures. Bandcamp has been returned to the music world, rather than the gaming industry.
Okay, seems decent on paper at least. Not the "music industry exec" nightmare I was potentially expecting (hopefully), and maybe more opportunities for artists.
Apparently it has already turned nasty there, with Songtradr not wanting to recognize the existing Bandcamp United union.
How can they do that? I mean the union was, as I understand, legally recognised under labour relations rules. Surely that can't cease to be the case just because the management changed? Nothing happened to the union itself.
I saw an initial tweet screenshot/link being passed around about this (and subsequent info from Bandcamp United listing their demands) and it certainly has me worried.
Made sure I've downloaded everything from my collection and preparing for the worst. Hopefully this will get worked out, but it's heading down a bad path so far
Let's hope so. I rather like that it's a musician running things, that's a good sign... however, they are still a publicly traded company, so the specter of enshittification is still in the room.
Songtradr is actually a private company my web searches returns me accurate information.
And I think Bandcamp is not so quite a "public" traded company in the sense anyone can't buy stocks.
And I'm quite with you with any investors baked companies being the crust of all dysfunctional capitalistic strategies.
But for these two, they are both profitable and not in need of external funding for now, so I would also think Bandcamp is safe for a good amount of time, even with this acquisition.
Slight thread hijack incoming.
I’m not sure it is public ownership that drives enshittification, as much as investor ownership. Companies tend to enshittify in anticipation of an ipo, which is driven by private venture capital.
Public ownership was originally intended to be a democratizing, wealth distributing force, and to some extent still is.
The bigger problem with public ownership (not counting ipo/investor pressure) is the corporate raiding it enables.