6 ms·

I'm having a little trouble understanding the motivation for this move. Did Bandcamp have a poor revenue/profit outlook and were they looking to scale? Was this

by g_sch 5y ago

I'm having a little trouble understanding the motivation for this move. Did Bandcamp have a poor revenue/profit outlook and were they looking to scale? Was this just an exit for founders? I was under the impression that they had a relatively stable and profitable business, and strongly valued their branding and positioning as independent.

paxys 5y ago
Motivation for founders is a lot easier to understand than that of the acquiring company. What on earth is Epic going to do with Bandcamp?
- wildpeaks 5y ago
  Game soundtracks are usually sold on Bandcamp, even for games that aren't on the Epic Store. Also could be a source of creative content to generate NFTs, maybe even tie that to licensing of music used in game livestreams.
- bentcorner 5y ago
  They recently acquired Harmonix (original makers of Guitar Hero and other rhythm games). Maybe they're trying to build a GaaS music game?
- stu2b50 5y ago
  Create a market for music licensing that Unreal engine developers can use?
  - finder83 5y ago
    This is my guess as well. Pretty much every Epic acquisition is for Unreal.
- Macha 5y ago
  Turn the Epic Games Store into a more general Play Store/Apple Store competitor by expanding into other media types?
  - paxys 5y ago
    The Epic Games Store is barely even functional for video games. They haven't been able to implement table stakes features like reviews and a shopping cart, despite promising them for years now. Going wider and increasing its surface area even further doesn't really sound like a winning move.
    - johnnyanmac 5y ago
      User reviews are in the pipeline and shopping cart was added last year. And I doubt there were technical barriers that kept them from making this. Just a matter of other priorities on the store not immediately visible to western eyes (e.g., they have aggressively pursued regional pricing for the last 18 months).
- traskjd 5y ago
  I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Apple is big in music and they don’t like Apple. Wonder what Tim is cooking up for Tim on this one.
- kmfrk 5y ago
  Comedy option? The Epic Games Store will be the new iTunes. Licensing As A Service is probably a neat thing if it can be done at scale on par with the Unreal Engine Marketplace. But a lot of it boils down to "imagine if we could make IP law straightforward" which is somewhat of a moonshot.
- jerrybender 5y ago
  Metaverse concerts and fighting against Apple
  - acomjean 5y ago
    I can never tell if comments are sarcastic are not... but "fortnite" by epic already had concert/online experiences. They've been pretty fun. Maybe getting band camp allows them access to artists they didn't have before? https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/fort-nite-concert-series-soundwave-global-artists-tones-and-i-mohamed-hamaki-1233168/ https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/fort-nite-concert-seri...
prepend 5y ago
I assume it’s because Epic presented a ton of cash and a small but profitable company found it attractive. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to work for or be part of Epic, so that’s my assumption of gobs of cash.
- merlincorey 5y ago
  You must have missed the recent news about Simon Peyton Jones leaving Microsoft for Epic Games[0], then. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29131996 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29131996
  - efficax 5y ago
    Staff moves at that level are a lot different than your average joe, huge paychecks involved and lots of insulation from the product org
    - merlincorey 5y ago
      Are you suggesting the primary reason SPJ moved to Epic Games is because they offered him more money than Microsoft? Reading the message from SPJ[0] seems to indicate he is excited for the people and projects he will be working on as well as being given the freedom to continue working on education, functional programming research, and continuing to work in the Haskell ecosystem. Of course large amounts of money are involved for an engineer of SPJ's renown and experience - that requirement exists for any company that want's SPJ's time. [0] https://discourse.haskell.org/t/an-epic-future-for-spj/3573 https://discourse.haskell.org/t/an-epic-future-for-spj/3573
      - efficax 5y ago
        That's what I mean by insulation. Bagging a "famous" engineer is a political and PR move and they get a lot of freedom to define the role, something that most of us can't do
        5y ago
matt_heimer 5y ago
From the Epic side - they have to be looking at selling music in-game as a source of additional revenue. You'll be able to buy cassette tapes or virtual vinyl for your characters boombox. Of course there will be a matching dance you can also buy but maybe there will be a discount bundle.
bananapub 5y ago
bandcamp took VC. bandcamp, as a business that just does a thing very well and fairly, is never going to become as big as Google or Facebook. so, founder/VC/board now require it to be bought out for a huge multiple of revenue and be stripped for parts.

by g_sch 5y ago

paxys 5y ago

Motivation for founders is a lot easier to understand than that of the acquiring company. What on earth is Epic going to do with Bandcamp?

wildpeaks 5y ago
Game soundtracks are usually sold on Bandcamp, even for games that aren't on the Epic Store. Also could be a source of creative content to generate NFTs, maybe even tie that to licensing of music used in game livestreams.
bentcorner 5y ago
They recently acquired Harmonix (original makers of Guitar Hero and other rhythm games). Maybe they're trying to build a GaaS music game?
stu2b50 5y ago
Create a market for music licensing that Unreal engine developers can use?
- finder83 5y ago
  This is my guess as well. Pretty much every Epic acquisition is for Unreal.
Macha 5y ago
Turn the Epic Games Store into a more general Play Store/Apple Store competitor by expanding into other media types?
- paxys 5y ago
  The Epic Games Store is barely even functional for video games. They haven't been able to implement table stakes features like reviews and a shopping cart, despite promising them for years now. Going wider and increasing its surface area even further doesn't really sound like a winning move.
  - johnnyanmac 5y ago
    User reviews are in the pipeline and shopping cart was added last year. And I doubt there were technical barriers that kept them from making this. Just a matter of other priorities on the store not immediately visible to western eyes (e.g., they have aggressively pursued regional pricing for the last 18 months).
traskjd 5y ago
I’m sure it’s no coincidence that Apple is big in music and they don’t like Apple. Wonder what Tim is cooking up for Tim on this one.
kmfrk 5y ago
Comedy option? The Epic Games Store will be the new iTunes. Licensing As A Service is probably a neat thing if it can be done at scale on par with the Unreal Engine Marketplace. But a lot of it boils down to "imagine if we could make IP law straightforward" which is somewhat of a moonshot.
jerrybender 5y ago
Metaverse concerts and fighting against Apple
- acomjean 5y ago
  I can never tell if comments are sarcastic are not... but "fortnite" by epic already had concert/online experiences. They've been pretty fun. Maybe getting band camp allows them access to artists they didn't have before? https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/fort-nite-concert-series-soundwave-global-artists-tones-and-i-mohamed-hamaki-1233168/ https://www.rollingstone.com/pro/news/fort-nite-concert-seri...

prepend 5y ago

I assume it’s because Epic presented a ton of cash and a small but profitable company found it attractive. I can’t imagine anyone wanting to work for or be part of Epic, so that’s my assumption of gobs of cash.

merlincorey 5y ago
You must have missed the recent news about Simon Peyton Jones leaving Microsoft for Epic Games[0], then. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29131996 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29131996
- efficax 5y ago
  Staff moves at that level are a lot different than your average joe, huge paychecks involved and lots of insulation from the product org
  - merlincorey 5y ago
    Are you suggesting the primary reason SPJ moved to Epic Games is because they offered him more money than Microsoft? Reading the message from SPJ[0] seems to indicate he is excited for the people and projects he will be working on as well as being given the freedom to continue working on education, functional programming research, and continuing to work in the Haskell ecosystem. Of course large amounts of money are involved for an engineer of SPJ's renown and experience - that requirement exists for any company that want's SPJ's time. [0] https://discourse.haskell.org/t/an-epic-future-for-spj/3573 https://discourse.haskell.org/t/an-epic-future-for-spj/3573
    - efficax 5y ago
      That's what I mean by insulation. Bagging a "famous" engineer is a political and PR move and they get a lot of freedom to define the role, something that most of us can't do
      - 5y ago

matt_heimer 5y ago

From the Epic side - they have to be looking at selling music in-game as a source of additional revenue. You'll be able to buy cassette tapes or virtual vinyl for your characters boombox. Of course there will be a matching dance you can also buy but maybe there will be a discount bundle.

bananapub 5y ago

bandcamp took VC. bandcamp, as a business that just does a thing very well and fairly, is never going to become as big as Google or Facebook. so, founder/VC/board now require it to be bought out for a huge multiple of revenue and be stripped for parts.