“Music is therapeutic,” the late musician Prince as soon as mentioned. Bandcamp co-founder Ethan Diamond informed NPR in 2020 that the purpose of the impartial digital music platform he was constructing was to carry that energy of therapeutic to everybody. Many present Bandcamp workers are going to wish it. Epic Video games, which acquired Bandcamp only a yr in the past, laid off roughly half its employees immediately after finalizing its sale to music licensing firm Songtradr amid wide-scale cuts on the Fortnite maker. One former worker informed Kotaku that no person’s heard from Diamond because the 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 present features at Songtradr, 50% of Bandcamp workers have accepted affords to affix Songtradr.”
The remainder of the roughly 120 workers will be laid off by Epic and obtain six months of severance, whilst Bandcamp’s union continues to cut price with the billion-dollar firm over higher phrases. Epic Video games purchased Bandcamp in March 2022 for $273 million, in response to inner paperwork considered by Kotaku. In accordance 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 handle 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 could divest itself of Bandcamp in a September 28 weblog publish that exposed roughly 830 layoffs throughout the broader firm. Staff of the impartial music platform, which has been an particularly widespread place for followers to purchase from and assist online game composers instantly, have 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 have 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. Additionally they claimed {that a} majority of the employees had misplaced entry and permissions to the instruments wanted to carry out their common duties in that point, grinding the whole lot however crucial features inside Bandcamp to a halt as employees 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, called on Songtradr to voluntarily recognize 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 acquired a suggestion from Songtradr would stay eligible for Epic’s severance package deal. They might successfully be compelled to take the job on the new firm, regardless of the huge modifications to situations on the bottom with Bandcamp being lower roughly in half.
“There’s no means Bandcamp will proceed as Songtradr has promised,” one former worker informed Kotaku earlier this month. “It’s simply fully fucked up.”
The chaotic switch of possession and the confusion amongst employees was due largely to the character of the deal between Epic and Songtradr. The 2 corporations agreed to an “asset sale” of Bandcamp somewhat than a “inventory sale.” This meant that Songtradr was solely buying the expertise and platform, somewhat than the corporate as a complete, together with its employees. As workers waited for the deal to shut, many have been left at nighttime about what was occurring and who would finally nonetheless have a job when the mud ultimately settled. In accordance with two former workers, neither Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, nor anybody else on Epic’s senior management workforce, ever held an all-hands assembly with Bandcamp employees the place they might ask questions.
The sudden, sudden 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 offered bandcamp a yr after they purchased it exhibits that that they had no plan and no actual curiosity in bandcamp’s mission,” tweeted FTL: Quicker Than Mild composer Ben Prunty.
It’s not clear what is going to occur to Bandcamp going ahead. ”We’re dedicated to retaining the present 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 immediately. Epic will proceed to work with Bandcamp on Fortnite Radio and stays an investor in Songtradr.
In accordance with two former Bandcamp workers, those that have been laid off have been disproportionately from the union. “Songtradr had no entry to union membership info and we executed our employment provide course of with full-consideration of all authorized necessities,” a spokesperson for Songtradr informed Kotaku. They mentioned ultimate affords have been despatched out after a cautious analysis and examination of “a number of elements.”
The Bandcamp United union didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.