Bandcamp announced on Wednesday that it has been acquired by Epic Games, the company best known as the makers of Fortnite, for an undisclosed sum. While Fortnite may be Epic’s most well-known property, the company has long been a titan of the gaming and software industry thanks to their Unreal Engine, one of the most popular game engines in history.
In a statement published on Bandcamp’s website, CEO Ethan Diamond explained the company’s decision. You can see that full statement below:
I’m excited to announce that Bandcamp is joining Epic Games, who you may know as the makers of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, and champions for a fair and open Internet.
Bandcamp will keep operating as a standalone marketplace and music community, and I will continue to lead our team. 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. However, behind the scenes we’re working with 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.
Since our founding in 2008, we’ve been motivated by the pursuit of our mission, which is to help spread the healing power of music by building a community where artists thrive through the direct support of their fans. That simple idea has worked well, with payments to artists and labels closing in on $1 billion USD. And 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.
Whether you joined Bandcamp recently or have been with us since the beginning 14 years ago, thank you for being a part of this incredible community, and we look forward to serving you for many years to come!
Ethan Diamond
Bandcamp co-founder and CEO
Formed in 2008, Bandcamp has become the preferred platform for artists due to its higher-than-normal payout rates. Since the pandemic, Bandcamp Fridays (the first Friday of every month) saw the platform give its share of revenue to artists.
The acquisition has sparked chatter amid the uncertainty about what happens next, which you can see in the comments under Bandcamp’s tweet announcing the news.
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