Epic Games acquires Bandcamp

Epic Games confirmed the acquisition via a blog post, claiming that Bandcamp will play a crucial role in its vision to build a “creator marketplace ecosystem” for games, art, music, and more. It is not clearly stated whether Bandcamp would be featured on the Epic Games Store, though Ethan Diamond, the company CEO has promised independent operations.

“Bandcamp will keep operating as a standalone marketplace and music community, and I will continue to lead our team. The products and services you depend on aren’t going anywhere,” he said. Artists will continue to receive a net average of 82 percent on every, while community members will have the same control over the music service.

Bandcamp is an online record store and music community where fans can discover, connect with, and directly support the artists. With Epic Games’ support, the company hopes to push development forward, creating better album pages, a mobile app, merch tools, payment system, and search and discovery features. It also plans to foray into vinyl pressing and live streaming services in the future.

Introduced in March 2020, the Bandcamp Friday fundraiser will see no disruption either, helping the many artists who had their livelihoods disrupted by the pandemic. “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,” it reads.

Epic Games has dipped heavily into the music scene in recent years, hosting virtual concerts in Fortnite – starring the likes of Ariana Grande and Travis Scott. In November 2021, the company signed an exclusive deal with Harmonix studio, the creators of music-based games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

The developer, at the time, revealed it as an attempt to tap into the metaverse and create immersive “musical experiences.”