Bandcamp United, the workers’ union, had previously asked Songtradr to offer employment to all current Bandcamp staff, along with voluntary severance, after the sale. Songtradr has yet to recognize the union. Vulture has reached out to Songtradr for comment.
There is no process here. The union should be treated the way rental agreements are in Canada. If there's someone living in the home, you can't just buy the house to flip it and kick them out....
There is no process here. The union should be treated the way rental agreements are in Canada. If there's someone living in the home, you can't just buy the house to flip it and kick them out. There are human beings whose lives depend on their work, as in any company.
The tenants have a contract with the landlord for a fixed period of time. Bandcamp employees are employed at all. I'm doubtful Bandcamp runs in the black in the first place, so I doubt they have...
The tenants have a contract with the landlord for a fixed period of time. Bandcamp employees are employed at all. I'm doubtful Bandcamp runs in the black in the first place, so I doubt they have much, if any, leverage in the situation.
Two sources which challenge your point that Bandcamp is/was unprofitable: https://www.npr.org/2020/08/19/903547253/a-tale-of-two-ecosystems-on-bandcamp-spotify-and-the-wide-open-future...
Two sources which challenge your point that Bandcamp is/was unprofitable:
Spotify is now worth an estimated $54 billion on the stock market, despite having never shown an annual profit. Bandcamp is privately owned, has been in the black since 2012, and continues to grow... slowly. You might be tempted to say that one is a 21st-century business, and the other belongs to an earlier age. But neither could exist at any other time.
But within this discrepancy lies a paradox: Bandcamp, as comparatively threadbare as it may seem, with about $20 million in net revenue in 2022, is almost certainly profitable—based on the fact that the company has stayed lean and taken on no new funding since 2010.
Neither article actually is a source, though. The NPR article just says it, without a source or any kind of evidence, and the second one is just "assuming" that it's in the black since it hasn't...
Neither article actually is a source, though. The NPR article just says it, without a source or any kind of evidence, and the second one is just "assuming" that it's in the black since it hasn't taken on funding rounds.
I don't think the fact that they had to sell to Epic, nor the fact that Epic unceremoniously dumped them onto Songtradr the moment interest rates went beyond 2%, nor the fact that Songtradr felt like it was necessary to cut a whopping half of the staff bodes well for the financials for the company.
I think you're missing why this may be important to independent musicians, labels, and journalists whose entire ecosystem for releasing music is shifting towards pay-to-play. While I get that a...
I think you're missing why this may be important to independent musicians, labels, and journalists whose entire ecosystem for releasing music is shifting towards pay-to-play. While I get that a business needs to be profitable, this is a huge problem for a large chunk of artists, exacerbated by the tech industry trying to turn a buck.
It's equally important for a business to make above its means - outgoing money has to come from somewhere. If this is what is required for Bandcamp to run lean enough to sustain itself in a high...
It's equally important for a business to make above its means - outgoing money has to come from somewhere. If this is what is required for Bandcamp to run lean enough to sustain itself in a high interest environment, it is what it is. AirBnB did something similar on the onset of the pandemic, and it's a more resilient company for it.
Yeah this sucks and Songtradr implied they would be cutting jobs. Not sure if they'll even honor the Bandcamp United union or anything. I'm not looking forward to what happens to BC. If you want a...
Yeah this sucks and Songtradr implied they would be cutting jobs. Not sure if they'll even honor the Bandcamp United union or anything. I'm not looking forward to what happens to BC.
If you want a crude (but better than completely manual) way to convert your BC wishlist to a plaintext list of albums... I tossed this together (not really intended to be self promotion and this announcement spawned my interest in throwing it together). If this comment is considered unsavory, delete / let me know and I'll remove myself... whatever works <3
Not too good.
There is no process here. The union should be treated the way rental agreements are in Canada. If there's someone living in the home, you can't just buy the house to flip it and kick them out. There are human beings whose lives depend on their work, as in any company.
The tenants have a contract with the landlord for a fixed period of time. Bandcamp employees are employed at all. I'm doubtful Bandcamp runs in the black in the first place, so I doubt they have much, if any, leverage in the situation.
Two sources which challenge your point that Bandcamp is/was unprofitable:
https://www.npr.org/2020/08/19/903547253/a-tale-of-two-ecosystems-on-bandcamp-spotify-and-the-wide-open-future
https://www.fastcompany.com/90951664/bandcamp-spotify-vinyl-renaissance
Neither article actually is a source, though. The NPR article just says it, without a source or any kind of evidence, and the second one is just "assuming" that it's in the black since it hasn't taken on funding rounds.
I don't think the fact that they had to sell to Epic, nor the fact that Epic unceremoniously dumped them onto Songtradr the moment interest rates went beyond 2%, nor the fact that Songtradr felt like it was necessary to cut a whopping half of the staff bodes well for the financials for the company.
I think you're missing why this may be important to independent musicians, labels, and journalists whose entire ecosystem for releasing music is shifting towards pay-to-play. While I get that a business needs to be profitable, this is a huge problem for a large chunk of artists, exacerbated by the tech industry trying to turn a buck.
It's equally important for a business to make above its means - outgoing money has to come from somewhere. If this is what is required for Bandcamp to run lean enough to sustain itself in a high interest environment, it is what it is. AirBnB did something similar on the onset of the pandemic, and it's a more resilient company for it.
Yeah this sucks and Songtradr implied they would be cutting jobs. Not sure if they'll even honor the Bandcamp United union or anything. I'm not looking forward to what happens to BC.
If you want a crude (but better than completely manual) way to convert your BC wishlist to a plaintext list of albums... I tossed this together (not really intended to be self promotion and this announcement spawned my interest in throwing it together). If this comment is considered unsavory, delete / let me know and I'll remove myself... whatever works <3
Extremely crude JS+HTML but it gets the job mostly done.
https://bcw-converter.netlify.app/
Figured with all that's going on with BC might be a good time to export a list like this.