Video game developer Epic Games announced that it has purchased Bandcamp, the online music platform for independent musicians.
Bandcamp will become part of Epic Games. The two companies recently made the announcement, stating the Bandcamp will "continue as a standalone marketplace and music community," but will use Epic's resources to expand internationally and continue adding new features. But what exactly is Bandcamp, and what does it mean for Fortnite?
What is Bandcamp?
Bandcamp is more or less an online music store and community where passionate fans can discover, connect with, and directly support the artists that they love. To do this, artists and labels upload music to Bandcamp and then determine how they want to sell it. For example, they set their own prices, offer users the option to pay more, and sell merchandise.
In turn, users can download their purchases or stream their music on the Bandcamp app or website. They can also send purchased music as gifts, view lyrics, and save individual songs or albums to a wishlist. Uploading music to Bandcamp is free. The company collects a 15% commission on sales through the site, which drops to 10% when an artist's sales exceed $5000, plus payment processing fees.
By its own account, Bandcamp has paid out nearly $1 Billion USD to artists and labels to date using this method. So we can also get an idea of how much the company is probably worth...
Over the years, Bandcamp has been approached by other companies looking to buy the company. However, Bandcamp's CEO says "such an acquisition would only be attractive if they believe in our mission, agree with our values, and want to not only keep Bandcamp going, but also provide the resources to bring more value to the artists, labels, and fans who use the site." Apparently Epic Games has met all of those criteria.
What Does The Purchase Of Bandcamp Mean For Fortnite?
Fortnite already jumped into the music world a few years ago, hosting concerts by Marshmello, Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, J Balvin and more in its virtual universe. Epic also added the radio station to Fortnite, through which you can listen to music from a wide variety of artists in the Battle Royale when you're in a vehicle.
Bandcamp will play "an important role in Epic's vision to expand the marketplace ecosystem for content, technology, games, art, music and more," the gaming company said. Under Epic Games' ownership, Bandcamp will operate as a standalone marketplace and music community and will continue to be led by CEO and co-founder Ethan Diamond.
"Together, we will be able to create even more opportunities for artists to be fairly compensated for their work", Diamond wrote in his Blog Post announcing the Bandcamp sale.
Diamond said Bandcamp is working with Epic to expand internationally and build out other areas, including album sites, mobile apps, merchandise tools, the payment system, and search and discovery features. They also want to work on newer initiatives like live streaming services.
For Fortnite, though, this could mean that we will see many more artists in the future. Be it in some kind of music event, on Fortnite's radio stations, or on Party Royale Island.
This article was originally written by Alisa Eiber.