Seems like an odd pairing…wonder what impact it will have on artists and listeners.
Should be good honestly. Game dev needs better music. A lot of sounds in games are recycled. This could give a chance for more unique sounds/soundtracks.
In game dev you buy a lot of assets (textures/maps/pixel art/etc…) and having a better library of sound would be not only more accessible (and directly integrate into their game engine) but should ensure more purchases.
People spend a lot of money on assets. This is the age of small indie studios or one person shops.
And if Epic keeps making a lot of money from Fortnite and gets 5% of all revenue from games making more than $1M then bandcamp should see good funding as well.
Here is an example of the marketplace. These things sell like hotcakes:
2 Likes
Epic is buying up every single creative website nowadays. They also bought Artstation (largest concept art gallery site) and Sketchfab (largest 3D model gallery/store).
Sure they’re benevolent right now but for how long? Terrible news.
13 Likes
With Unreal 5, they will keep going strong. They have the best game engine for 3D worlds and making really polished games. I know this world is foreign to most musicians but they are a force to be reckoned with.
“”"
Bandcamp will keep operating as a standalone marketplace and music community
…
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.
“”"
This supports the idea that game devs will have good access to one of the most neglected assets. Music and sounds.
Imagine selling your modular bleeps and bloops because they sound like lasers/blasters? Drones sounding like humming space ships. You can have fun and make money while still making tracks and performing live sets. And your niche style/genre could fit perfect for a game that is being developed. Bam, album purchased and directly integrated into a game without complex contracts.
6 Likes
Its a new system to game. Make a tribute album to China and be listed as a featured artist for the end of time
4 Likes
I dont think “together” exist when the question of “who’s got the majority of shares” comes at the table.
But yeah, at least the wrapping is pretty.
1 Like
…i can see only good news here…
bandcamps will stay what it is, while partnering with a future giant…
sounds like a perfect team to me…
with endless opertunities for win wins in all directions, on all sides, that will more and more matter in a not that far future…
unrealengine is THE next green screen…and is based on the most upfront and where it’s at…and has THE number one realtime polygone/shading/lightning/character design engine u can imagine…
fortnight IS already kind of THE metaverse…like it or not…
while bandcamp is the last free record store of the planet with an endless array of music of ALL kinds…and free artists of all kinds…
and no pictures, no content of whatsoever, no sourroundings work without a perfect match in sonic athmospheres, songs, scores and sounddesigns…
that is a serious step into a safer future, beyond streaming farms…
and the gaming sector has crumbled hollywood into pieces long time ago already…
finally some good news again in this troubled times…
7 Likes
Eh I don’t get why all of these threads are always so negative. Does bandcamp have the expertise to integrate into game engines/marketplaces? I see it as a positive. Especially as I learn to develop games. Lucky me I make sounds/music, but not everyone can wear many hats.
4 Likes
Maybe this will give BC some extra cash and developer time to make the app and playlists and all that jazz compete with Spotify etc. 
14 Likes
I think in general corporate consolidation (especially when beloved services are involved) rouses instant skepticism from a lot of people, and I can understand why. That said, in this case, I am really curious to see where it goes.
Bandcamp is rightly the favorite platform for musicians, and their model has up to now been super ethical.
Unreal Engine is also for sure amazing, and for very good reasons (its open architecture being a big one), the new standard for developers and 3D digital creators as well.
4 Likes
The problem I see with this is it’s yet another large top down corporate system that creatives will depend on all while having little control over how they function.
Electronic music specifically, built its scene from the ground up. Radio stations wouldn’t play the music so we made our own stations. Labels wouldn’t put it out so we made our own record labels, pressed our own records. DJs wouldn’t play it so we learned how to DJ.
But now we are more dependent than ever on large corporations (Spotify, apple, google, epic) for our creative work to be heard.
What happens if these corporations fold, or decide to stop offering services, or get hacked? What happens to the sub cultures that now rely on them, how will they get distributed? How do people find them? And who will control those outlets? These are real questions that don’t have easy answers.
And yea, I say all this as a huge fan of unreal engine.
34 Likes
Totally fair. As you said, Epic is a different. They have a cash cow and are a force for good (because they can). How long that will last, unclear. This shouldn’t be bad. There are very little reasons for this to be a net negative.
1 Like
Understood. I am not disagreeing. This is something to think about for all mergers/etc…
The positives outnumber the negatives… for now 
The fact Epic is a massive corporation is exactly why I want no part of this. I don’t want to be part of their content farm.
I’m sorry but this is extremely naive.
12 Likes
Honestly my guess is it’s only a matter of time before epic decides it isn’t happy with bandcamp being a platform for indies and wants to entice big labels and artists with preferential treatment. I think short term it might be good though. We will see I suppose.
5 Likes
I hope they improve the bandcamp app to let me download music on my phone instead of only on the computer, that’s annoying
2 Likes
I think this one is unique. Bandcamp had been a bastion for small labels to self distribute without having to lose out to streaming “royalties”, or add to the congestion on digital shops. It’s been a platform for the independents to be… well, independent of all of that.
So, now that that will change, what alternative do independents have?
4 Likes
I don’t think so. They have done a lot of awesome stuff in this space once Fortnite was their cash cow.
What company decided to battle Apple and spend millions on legal fees?
I’ll stop now because obviously you all are just going to shit all over me for being excited for the game dev community and sound designers/artists.
I still don’t get what has changed. They said that bandcamp chose Epic. Not the other way around.
EDIT: I will say I did mention “for now” which you left out of context and used it to justify the use of “naive”.
4 Likes
Realistically this is a life-changing liquidity event for the founding team and key employees and removes that incentive to continue working on Bandcamp long term as well as their feeling of ownership (probably on some vesting schedule).
I’m happy they’ll get a good reward for having built something awesome and as a techno optimist I’m stoked for the next even better indie music platform they or some new kids build from scratch (that this acquisition will help motivate!).
The only thing guaranteed in software is a changing environment (operating systems, browsers, user expectations, ecosystem)… that’s why nothing is ever finished. It’s a sad fact if you’re married to a product as-is but also means there’s always going to be cool new shit.
2 Likes
So Bandcamp gets bought out by a company that make a lot of their money hawking virtual costumes to 12 year old boys and I’m supposed to see this as a good thing for independent music?
32 Likes