“Music is therapeutic,” the late musician Prince as soon as stated. Bandcamp co-founder Ethan Diamond advised NPR in 2020 that the purpose of the impartial 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 employees immediately after finalizing its sale to music licensing firm Songtradr amid wide-scale cuts on the Fortnite maker. One former worker advised Kotaku that no person’s heard from Diamond for the reason that sale was introduced.
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“Over the previous few years the working prices of Bandcamp have considerably elevated,” Songtradr wrote in an announcement. “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 provides 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 accordance with inside paperwork considered by Kotaku. Based on two former workers, who wished to stay nameless as a result of they didn’t wish to jeopardize their severance packages, even Diamond was not conscious of Epic’s plan to promote Bandcamp to Songtradr till as quickly because the night time earlier than the deal was introduced.
Diamond didn’t reply to a request for remark despatched to his Bandcamp electronic mail tackle over every 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 put up that exposed roughly 830 layoffs throughout the broader firm. Staff of the impartial music platform, which has been an particularly in style place for followers to purchase from and help online game composers straight, 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 stated 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 all the things however crucial capabilities inside Bandcamp to a halt as employees waited to see who can be laid off.
In the course of the weeks that adopted, Bandcamp’s union, which represented about half of the corporate on the time, known 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 stated that no worker who acquired a suggestion 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 large adjustments to situations on the bottom with Bandcamp being reduce roughly in half.
“There’s no method Bandcamp will proceed as Songtradr has promised,” one former worker advised Kotaku earlier this month. “It’s simply utterly 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 moderately than a “inventory sale.” This meant that Songtradr was solely buying the expertise and platform, moderately than the corporate as a complete, together with its employees. As workers waited for the deal to shut, many have been left at the hours of darkness about what was occurring and who would in the end nonetheless have a job when the mud finally settled. Based on two former workers, neither Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, nor anybody else on Epic’s senior management group, ever held an all-hands assembly with Bandcamp employees 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 probably the most open, artist-friendly ecosystem on the earth,” 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 that they had no plan and no actual curiosity in bandcamp’s mission,” tweeted FTL: Quicker Than Gentle composer Ben Prunty.
It’s not clear what is going to occur to Bandcamp going ahead. ”We’re dedicated to protecting the present Bandcamp providers that followers and artists love, together with its artist-first income share, Bandcamp Fridays and Bandcamp Every day,” it stated in an announcement to Kotaku immediately. Epic will proceed to work with Bandcamp on Fortnite Radio and stays an investor in Songtradr.
Based on 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 supply course of with full-consideration of all authorized necessities,” a spokesperson for Songtradr advised Kotaku. They stated remaining provides have 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.
