“Music is therapeutic,” the late musician Prince as soon as mentioned. Bandcamp co-founder Ethan Diamond instructed NPR in 2020 that the purpose of the unbiased digital music platform he was constructing was to deliver that energy of therapeutic to everybody. Many present Bandcamp workers are going to wish it. Epic Video games, which acquired Bandcamp only a 12 months in the past, laid off roughly half its workers right this moment after finalizing its sale to music licensing firm Songtradr amid wide-scale cuts on the Fortnite maker. One former worker instructed Kotaku that no person’s heard from Diamond for the reason that sale was introduced.
“Over the previous few years the working prices of Bandcamp have considerably elevated,” Songtradr wrote in a press release. “It required some changes to make sure a sustainable and wholesome firm that may serve its neighborhood of artists and followers. After a complete analysis, together with the significance of roles for easy enterprise operations and pre current capabilities at Songtradr, 50% of Bandcamp workers have accepted gives to affix Songtradr.”
The remainder of the roughly 120 workers can be laid off by Epic and obtain six months of severance, at the same time as Bandcamp’s union continues to discount with the billion-dollar firm over higher phrases. Epic Video games purchased Bandcamp in March 2022 for $273 million, in line with inside paperwork considered by Kotaku. In line with two former workers, who wished to stay nameless as a result of they didn’t need to jeopardize their severance packages, even Diamond was not conscious of Epic’s plan to promote Bandcamp to Songtradr till as quickly because the evening earlier than the deal was introduced.
Diamond didn’t reply to a request for remark despatched to his Bandcamp e-mail tackle over per week in the past (it has since been disconnected). Epic declined to touch upon whether or not Diamond was conscious of the deal to promote Bandcamp earlier than it occurred.
Epic Video games introduced it might divest itself of Bandcamp in a September 28 weblog publish that exposed roughly 830 layoffs throughout the broader firm. Staff of the unbiased music platform, which has been an particularly common place for followers to purchase from and help online game composers immediately, had been left in limbo within the weeks that adopted as to whether or not they would have a job at Songtradr as soon as the sale was full.
Two former workers mentioned they had been instantly logged out of Epic’s company-wide Slack channel as soon as the deal was introduced on September 28, regardless of nonetheless being on the corporate’s payrolls till it formally closed. In addition they claimed {that a} majority of the workers had misplaced entry and permissions to the instruments wanted to carry out their common duties in that point, grinding every part however vital capabilities inside Bandcamp to a halt as workers waited to see who can be laid off.
Throughout the weeks that adopted, Bandcamp’s union, which represented about half of the corporate on the time, referred to as on Songtradr to voluntarily acknowledge the union whereas it additionally negotiated with Epic over how the layoffs to union members can be dealt with. For instance, the sport writer mentioned that no worker who obtained a proposal from Songtradr would stay eligible for Epic’s severance bundle. They’d successfully be pressured to take the job on the new firm, regardless of the huge adjustments to circumstances on the bottom with Bandcamp being minimize roughly in half.
“There’s no means Bandcamp will proceed as Songtradr has promised,” one former worker instructed Kotaku earlier this month. “It’s simply fully fucked up.”
The chaotic switch of possession and the confusion amongst workers was due largely to the character of the deal between Epic and Songtradr. The 2 corporations agreed to an “asset sale” of Bandcamp quite than a “inventory sale.” This meant that Songtradr was solely buying the expertise and platform, quite than the corporate as a complete, together with its workers. As workers waited for the deal to shut, many had been left at the hours of darkness about what was occurring and who would finally nonetheless have a job when the mud finally settled. In line with two former workers, neither Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, nor anybody else on Epic’s senior management crew, ever held an all-hands assembly with Bandcamp workers the place they may ask questions.
The sudden, surprising buy of Bandcamp in 2022 and its messy sell-off this month have drawn criticism from many supporters of the platform. “We share a imaginative and prescient of constructing essentially the most open, artist-friendly ecosystem on this planet,” Epic Video games wrote on the time of the unique acquisition. “The truth that Epic bought bandcamp a 12 months after they purchased it reveals that they’d no plan and no actual curiosity in bandcamp’s mission,” tweeted FTL: Quicker Than Gentle composer Ben Prunty.
It’s not clear what’s going to occur to Bandcamp going ahead. ”We’re dedicated to maintaining the prevailing Bandcamp companies that followers and artists love, together with its artist-first income share, Bandcamp Fridays and Bandcamp Each day,” it mentioned in a press release to Kotaku right this moment. Epic will proceed to work with Bandcamp on Fortnite Radio and stays an investor in Songtradr.
In line with two former Bandcamp workers, those that had been laid off had been disproportionately from the union. “Songtradr had no entry to union membership data and we executed our employment provide course of with full-consideration of all authorized necessities,” a spokesperson for Songtradr instructed Kotaku. They mentioned closing gives had been despatched out after a cautious analysis and examination of “a number of components.”
The Bandcamp United union didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
