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Throwaway, but I work at Bandcamp. We're all very frightened and don't know what the future holds. We were told that some, but not all, will get offers from Son

Throwaway, but I work at Bandcamp. We're all very frightened and don't know what the future holds. We were told that some, but not all, will get offers from Songtradr and it may be up to a month before we receive an offer. It's pretty depressing.

computerdork 3y ago
Best of luck, hope it all works out!
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
yuriks 3y ago
Do you think this sale was intended as a union-busting move? It sounds like they're not retaining staff with the sale, and this timing seems to match with Bandcamp's staff unionization efforts.
- Insanity 3y ago
  These decisions take time to make. Not sure when the union efforts started though - but not sure how likely this would be as a result of those efforts..
  - docpop 3y ago
    Bandcamp workers voted in favor of a union in March 16th of this year. It was one year and a week after Epic acquired the company. It's impossible to know what Epic is thinking know, or even when they bought BC, but 6 months sounds like how long it would take to sell Bandcamp off as a retaliation for unionizing.
- throwaway15968 3y ago
  I don't think so. Epic also spun off SuperAwesome today, who are not unionized.
- notatoad 3y ago
  there's not a whole lot of point to union-busting if you don't own the company anymore... bandcamp staff unionizing might have been a consideration in deciding to sell the company, but i don't think it's fair to call that "union busting".
- altacc 3y ago
  It was probably mostly about cash balance for the company. I once worked in a company that was a niche business but very profitable and with predictable cash flow. That made it very quick and easy to sell when needed, basically a tradeable asset. Twice in the space of a few years it was sold when the current owner wanted some cash and another had excess cash. Sounds like this is the case with Bandcamp. In my middle management experience, being profitable and owned by a company that didn't share the business domain was best as they mostly left us alone as long as we were profitable. When they finally got bought by a similar business, that's when they tried (and failed) to merge jobs. I've since left but they've recently been spun out yet again.
ip_addr 3y ago
Did something similar happen when Epic Games bought the company?
- throwaway15968 3y ago
  The rumour is that this happened without any Bandcamp staff aware, even executives, so it's different in that we're all in the dark.
brianstorms 3y ago
Is Ethan Diamond still there?
datavirtue 3y ago
Uh...demand negotiations and/or strike immediately. Like wtf!?
mey 3y ago
When Epic was announced as a buyer, it kinda struck me that Valve would've been a better steward for the platform in the short term, with potential synergy in the long term considering how many OST they already sell for games.
BLKNSLVR 3y ago
For what it's worth in this depressing and anxious waiting period: thank you for your efforts, and I sincerely hope you can continue as you have been. As many other commenters have pointed out, Bandcamp is a great service. For me, it's really the only place I purchase music because of its commitment to paying artists fairly and offering FLAC downloads of the purchased music. Again, thank you and good luck! As an aside, I support unionisation precisely as the counterpoint it is intended to be, and any management actions against unionisation should be treated with suspicion and I generally look at that kind of behaviour as the base reason why unions need to exist in the first place. (Both sides can be corrupt, but if there's only power on one side, then the corruption is both more likely to occur and increase). I hope the unionisation thing is totally unrelated to this situation.
- throwaway15968 3y ago
  Thank you, truly. It means a lot. I'm international, so I'm not represented by the union, but I support them for exactly the same reasons that you state here. I don't think it's related to the unionization. I'm sure it didn't help, but Epic also spun off SuperAwesome today.
armini 3y ago
thanks for your contributions to bandcamp, I'd love to connect with you to explore opportunities working on www.kuky.com we're a platform that actually pays creators for their music.
hatsix 3y ago
I work at SongTradr. I know nothing about the acquisition, but can answer any other questions you have. I feel like Bandcamp 100% fits better with SongTradr than Epic.
- throwaway15968 3y ago
  Thank you, I appreciate it! A few quick questions: 1. How are benefits/compensation? Competitive? 2. Are there a lot of international remote employees at SongTradr? Bandcamp has a lot of people around the globe and we'd love to know if SongTradr is likely to make offers internationally or if it'll just be near offices. 3. Do you like working there?
  - hatsix 3y ago
    1. Compensation is what I would call mid-tier competitive for each region. You won't get an SFO salary in Spain. You'll get more at FAANG or a more tech-focused startup, but I left a FAANG job to come here. 2. Lots of international employees. No exec-level requirements of working from an office, but some teams may have their own rules. 3. It's middle of the pack, but that's mainly because I get stuck doing jobs I hate because I'm the only one with the experience, and we've got a client breathing down our neck. it's the burden of being the Sr Dev, but eventually, I'll have trained my team well enough that I can do a bit of real innovation... until then, I really believe we're enabling artists to make a better living by opening up a market (sync) that has generally been reserved for artists that are already living comfortably.
    - throwaway15968 3y ago
      Thank you for the response! That’s really helpful, makes it feel a little less vague & murky.
- bigiain 3y ago
  > I feel like Bandcamp 100% fits better with SongTradr than Epic. FWIW, at least some ("one"?) musicians are cautiously optimistic about this: https://mastodon.sdf.org/@lardmotel/111145640060611780 https://mastodon.sdf.org/@lardmotel/111145640060611780
slantedview 3y ago
Best of luck! I hope it all works out for you and everyone there, but it might be prudent to be prepared either way.
- throwaway15968 3y ago
  Thank you!
ace2358 3y ago
Thank you and everyone on the team. You changed music. Full stop. You gave us what we wanted. Full stop. We love you for your work.
- throwaway15968 3y ago
  That means the world. <3
  - matkoniecz 3y ago
    Thanks also from me! I really hope that Bandcamp will survive!
  - biorach 3y ago
    Seconded. Bandcamp is one of the few platforms that I really respect. It's done great things for artists and listeners. I'm happy to spend money there.
musicale 3y ago
That's very discouraging. Bandcamp was great and I will be sorry to see it go. As I see it maybe there is a void which will need to be filled.

computerdork 3y ago

Best of luck, hope it all works out!

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

yuriks 3y ago

Do you think this sale was intended as a union-busting move? It sounds like they're not retaining staff with the sale, and this timing seems to match with Bandcamp's staff unionization efforts.

Insanity 3y ago
These decisions take time to make. Not sure when the union efforts started though - but not sure how likely this would be as a result of those efforts..
- docpop 3y ago
  Bandcamp workers voted in favor of a union in March 16th of this year. It was one year and a week after Epic acquired the company. It's impossible to know what Epic is thinking know, or even when they bought BC, but 6 months sounds like how long it would take to sell Bandcamp off as a retaliation for unionizing.
throwaway15968 3y ago
I don't think so. Epic also spun off SuperAwesome today, who are not unionized.
notatoad 3y ago
there's not a whole lot of point to union-busting if you don't own the company anymore... bandcamp staff unionizing might have been a consideration in deciding to sell the company, but i don't think it's fair to call that "union busting".
altacc 3y ago
It was probably mostly about cash balance for the company. I once worked in a company that was a niche business but very profitable and with predictable cash flow. That made it very quick and easy to sell when needed, basically a tradeable asset. Twice in the space of a few years it was sold when the current owner wanted some cash and another had excess cash. Sounds like this is the case with Bandcamp. In my middle management experience, being profitable and owned by a company that didn't share the business domain was best as they mostly left us alone as long as we were profitable. When they finally got bought by a similar business, that's when they tried (and failed) to merge jobs. I've since left but they've recently been spun out yet again.

ip_addr 3y ago

Did something similar happen when Epic Games bought the company?

throwaway15968 3y ago
The rumour is that this happened without any Bandcamp staff aware, even executives, so it's different in that we're all in the dark.

brianstorms 3y ago

Is Ethan Diamond still there?

datavirtue 3y ago

Uh...demand negotiations and/or strike immediately. Like wtf!?

mey 3y ago

When Epic was announced as a buyer, it kinda struck me that Valve would've been a better steward for the platform in the short term, with potential synergy in the long term considering how many OST they already sell for games.

BLKNSLVR 3y ago

For what it's worth in this depressing and anxious waiting period: thank you for your efforts, and I sincerely hope you can continue as you have been. As many other commenters have pointed out, Bandcamp is a great service. For me, it's really the only place I purchase music because of its commitment to paying artists fairly and offering FLAC downloads of the purchased music. Again, thank you and good luck! As an aside, I support unionisation precisely as the counterpoint it is intended to be, and any management actions against unionisation should be treated with suspicion and I generally look at that kind of behaviour as the base reason why unions need to exist in the first place. (Both sides can be corrupt, but if there's only power on one side, then the corruption is both more likely to occur and increase). I hope the unionisation thing is totally unrelated to this situation.

throwaway15968 3y ago
Thank you, truly. It means a lot. I'm international, so I'm not represented by the union, but I support them for exactly the same reasons that you state here. I don't think it's related to the unionization. I'm sure it didn't help, but Epic also spun off SuperAwesome today.

armini 3y ago

thanks for your contributions to bandcamp, I'd love to connect with you to explore opportunities working on www.kuky.com we're a platform that actually pays creators for their music.

hatsix 3y ago

I work at SongTradr. I know nothing about the acquisition, but can answer any other questions you have. I feel like Bandcamp 100% fits better with SongTradr than Epic.

throwaway15968 3y ago
Thank you, I appreciate it! A few quick questions: 1. How are benefits/compensation? Competitive? 2. Are there a lot of international remote employees at SongTradr? Bandcamp has a lot of people around the globe and we'd love to know if SongTradr is likely to make offers internationally or if it'll just be near offices. 3. Do you like working there?
- hatsix 3y ago
  1. Compensation is what I would call mid-tier competitive for each region. You won't get an SFO salary in Spain. You'll get more at FAANG or a more tech-focused startup, but I left a FAANG job to come here. 2. Lots of international employees. No exec-level requirements of working from an office, but some teams may have their own rules. 3. It's middle of the pack, but that's mainly because I get stuck doing jobs I hate because I'm the only one with the experience, and we've got a client breathing down our neck. it's the burden of being the Sr Dev, but eventually, I'll have trained my team well enough that I can do a bit of real innovation... until then, I really believe we're enabling artists to make a better living by opening up a market (sync) that has generally been reserved for artists that are already living comfortably.
  - throwaway15968 3y ago
    Thank you for the response! That’s really helpful, makes it feel a little less vague & murky.
bigiain 3y ago
> I feel like Bandcamp 100% fits better with SongTradr than Epic. FWIW, at least some ("one"?) musicians are cautiously optimistic about this: https://mastodon.sdf.org/@lardmotel/111145640060611780 https://mastodon.sdf.org/@lardmotel/111145640060611780

slantedview 3y ago

Best of luck! I hope it all works out for you and everyone there, but it might be prudent to be prepared either way.

throwaway15968 3y ago
Thank you!

ace2358 3y ago

Thank you and everyone on the team. You changed music. Full stop. You gave us what we wanted. Full stop. We love you for your work.

throwaway15968 3y ago
That means the world. <3
- matkoniecz 3y ago
  Thanks also from me! I really hope that Bandcamp will survive!
- biorach 3y ago
  Seconded. Bandcamp is one of the few platforms that I really respect. It's done great things for artists and listeners. I'm happy to spend money there.

musicale 3y ago

That's very discouraging. Bandcamp was great and I will be sorry to see it go. As I see it maybe there is a void which will need to be filled.