Related Articles
After work hours on September 27, employees of Fortnite maker Epic Games received a calendar invite informing them of a mandatory meeting the next morning, according to an employee who received the message. Just before the surprise all-hands was scheduled to begin, employees of the online record store Bandcamp, which Epic bought in March 2022, received another email, says the worker: Epic was laying off 830 people—around 16 percent of the company's workforce—and selling Bandcamp to audio licensing company Songtradr.
Bandcamp employees were stunned to learn that some of them would not be receiving job offers from Songtradr. That day, the acquisition was announced publicly, and multiple Bandcamp employees say they began losing access to many of the systems needed to do their jobs, leaving the platform operating with limited oversight.
Bandcamp customer support specialist ed blair and software engineer Blade Barringer say staff have received little guidance from Epic or Songtradr about how they’re supposed to do their jobs without access to critical systems. When new support requests come in, blair can see them but is not able to properly respond.
A Zoom meeting last week with Songtradr executives who said they wanted Bandcamp to stay artist-friendly didn’t add much clarity. The platform’s staff have been told that Bandcamp is in a state of stasis during the transition, blair says, a situation that has been “really destabilizing” for the workers.
The turmoil at Bandcamp could also be destabilizing for musicians and their fans. Epic’s acquisition of Bandcamp last year triggered concern among some artists, music lovers, and industry groups, who worried that a uniquely artist-centric platform might change for the worse.
Bandcamp, founded in 2007, is beloved by many artists for providing a place where musicians can foster loyal fan communities and receive a generous share of music sales. Bandcamp pays artists 82 percent of every transaction, while Spotify is widely reported to pay a small fraction of a cent per stream. When Songtradr announced its acquisition last week, the Future of Music Coalition, a musician advocacy nonprofit, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the company’s leaders should “do what Bandcamp's fine employees have done for years—seeking constant artist/label feedback at every iteration. Don't screw it up!”
Most PopularGearThe Top New Features Coming to Apple’s iOS 18 and iPadOS 18By Julian ChokkattuCultureConfessions of a Hinge Power UserBy Jason ParhamGearHow Do You Solve a Problem Like Polestar?By Carlton ReidSecurityWhat You Need to Know About Grok AI and Your PrivacyBy Kate O'Flaherty
Those employees were not included in Epic’s sale of Bandcamp. Songtradr purchased the platform’s business and operations but not its staff, according to Sandy Pope, bargaining director for the Office of Professional Employees International Union, which since March has represented 67 out of some 120 Bandcamp workers.
“Based on its current financials, Bandcamp requires some adjustments to ensure a sustainable and healthy company that can serve its community of artists and fans long into the future,” says a statement provided by Songtradr chief marketing officer Lindsay Nahmiache. It says the company will be extending job offers to Bandcamp staff over the next few weeks as the sale is finalized.
Epic did not respond to a request for comment but last week posted an email from CEO Tim Sweeney saying laid-off employees would get six months of pay and health care along with other benefits. The Bandcamp union faces the prospect of having to start negotiations over again with Songtradr management.
Barringer, the Bandcamp software engineer, says that a handful of engineers are still performing the critical tasks needed to keep the site running, but otherwise they can’t commit new code. He found a minor bug this week but couldn’t access the program he needed to fix it.
It’s not great timing for Bandcamp to be in stasis. Today is Bandcamp Friday, a monthly event that started during the early days of the Covid pandemic in which the platform waives its usual cut of transactions so that nearly 100 percent of revenue goes to artists.
Traffic typically spikes on those days, hauling in extra money for artists, but some staff are concerned that their inability to perform basic tasks could derail the event, harming fans and artists. “None of us are here randomly just because we need a job,” says Barringer. “We're all here because we love artists and we want to create a space for them to succeed.”
Nahmiache provided a statement saying “Epic is committed to running the event as planned” while the sale is finalized, and that Songtradr plans to continue Bandcamp Fridays, as well as maintain the platform’s artist-first revenue sharing and its music guide Bandcamp Daily. In an interview with Billboard this week, Songtradr CEO Paul Wiltshire said Bandcamp was “a great platform as it is” and that “there’s not a need to change it,” adding that the company planned to add new music licensing opportunities for artists.
Wiltshire’s quoted remarks made no mention of Bandcamp’s workers, though. “So of course we're trying to remind him that employees have a lot to do with what Bandcamp is about,” says Pope, the union organizer.
Got a tip?
Are you a current or former employee of Epic Games or Bandcamp? We'd like to hear from you. Using a nonwork device, contact this article's author at caitlin_harrington@wired.com, or securely via Signal on +1 415-340-1483. WIRED protects the confidentiality of its sources.
Bandcamp’s union is demanding that Songtradr offer jobs to all current employees, recognize the union, and continue the negotiations begun with Epic. The union has launched a petition for fans and artists to back those demands. Musicians including psych rocker Damon Krukowski and power pop songster Ted Leo have taken to X to blast out their support.
Union members argue that to stay artist-first Bandcamp needs to retain its workers, with their repository of knowledge and their commitment to the site’s mission. “We want Bandcamp to stay as artist-friendly as possible,” says blair. “And we felt that having a seat at the table was the best way to ensure that happened.”
Updated 10-6-2023, 1 pm EDT: This article was updated to clarify that Lindsay Nahmiache provided a company statement on behalf of Songtradr.
