Musos and gamers were left scratching their heads last Wednesday as Bandcamp, the online record store hailed by independent artists as a bankable alternative to the razor-thin royalties of streaming, announced its acquisition by Epic Games, makers of the online gaming phenomenon Fortnite.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2022/mar/07/bandcamp-sells-to-epic-can-a-video-game-company-save-independent-music

See a fair few labels featured on here, use bandcamp a lot

any views?

or any reg bandcamp users?

I use it fairly regularly.

Can only see the sale eventually being a bad thing for artists.  Epic and the Chinese firm will want their money back, whether they take a bigger cut we will have to see?

A long-time fan and user of Bandcamp here. On the face of it, an acquisition looks like a bad thing, but until such time as the new owners set out their stall, it's impossible to tell.

That said, one thing the article doesn't really address with any great significance is why it was sold. The piece hints at the need to provide returns to the venture capitalists who helped fund it, but is that all? Have key funders demanded greater and quicker returns? Are there funding problems?

What has motivated the sale provides clear indicators of where Bandcamp will likely be headed. I only hope it remains the community of indie record labels that made it what it is.

Me too, I go on there daily, its a fabulous site, but alas the Chinese and Epic will want more profits from it ;-( cant be good.