Epic Games Lets Bandcamp Go Amid Layoffs

Bandcamp has been let go from their parent company Epic Games. Bandcamp was originally purchased by Epic Games in March 2022 and has now been divested to Songtradr amid layoffs. Epic Games also announced they’ve laid off 16% of their workforce and spun off SuperAwesome, as CEO Tim Sweeney laid out in a memo on the company’s website.

“We’re also making some divestitures,” wrote Sweeney in part. “Bandcamp is joining Songtradr, a music marketplace company supporting artists. SuperAwesome’s advertising business will become an independent company under the SuperAwesome brand, led by their current CEO Kate O’Loughlin. Kids Web Services (KWS), the parent verification and consent management toolset, will remain part of Epic.”

Songtradr issued their own statement, which couldn’t sound more robotic and soulless.

“Bandcamp is an online music store and community with over 5M artists and labels where fans can discover, connect with, and directly support the artists they love. This acquisition will help Bandcamp continue to grow within a music-first company and enable Songtradr to expand its capabilities to support the artist community.

“Songtradr will also offer Bandcamp artists the ability and choice to have their music licensed to all forms of media including content creators, game and app developers and brands. This will enable artists to continue to own and control their music rights, and increase their earning capacity from Songtradr’s global licensing network.

“Epic is exploring ways to partner with Songtradr to build an inventory of music where artists can opt in to have their music licensed for use in Epic’s ecosystem. Epic will continue to collaborate with Bandcamp on projects like Fortnite Radio and is investing in Songtradr to support Bandcamp’s successful integration into Songtradr.”

So who knows – Bandcamp seemed to do pretty alright under the Epic Games umbrella, but we’ll see what happens now that they’ve got new owners.