Bandcamp is Joining Songtradr

Back in March of 2022, my beloved Bandcamp was acquired by Epic Games. I commented on it at the time but never fully felt like the match made much sense. A few journalists shared their thoughts on why it happened at all (Spoiler alert: Epic wanted to use Bandcamp as a weapon in litigation against Google and Apple) but, again, it really never made much sense to me.

Then, perhaps more shockingly, Epic announced a large round of layoffs and a divestment in Bandcamp. They sold it off to Songtradr, a platform aimed at helping artists distribute their music to streaming platforms and seeking licensing agreements for film and TV.

I don't know much of anything about Songtradr. I've read some complaints that they charge too little for licensing or behave too complicitly with the horrible royalty rates from streaming platforms but despite all that, they still make more sense than Epic Games as a parent company.

I mentioned this during the last acquisition but I still find the entire thing baffling. Supposedly, Bandcamp is a profitable company. They may not have as much growth or as much super profit as a corporation may desire but they aren't in debt. At least, so I've read. If that's actually true, I don't think I'll ever really understand selling at all.

All and all, I'm happy they are not under the wing of Epic anymore. I'm glad the new parent seems a bit more sensible. And I remain cautiously optimistic that history does not repeat itself and that the new parent company tries to change things too drastically.