MAJOR ACQUISITION: INDIE MUSIC PLATFORM BANDCAMP ACQUIRED BY FORTNITE DEVELOPER EPIC GAMES

The indie music platform CEO Ethan Diamond has called Epic "champions of a fair and open internet"

Bandcamp music platform just got acquired by Fortnite developer Epic Games.

Epic Games, the developer and publisher behind Fortnite, has acquired Bandcamp for an undisclosed amount.

Bandcamp CEO Ethan Diamond announced the news via the Bandcamp Updates blog, declaring his excitement in the acquisition - labelling the developer "champions for a fair and open Internet."

Epic Games is known for games such as Fortnite, Gears of War, Rocket League and its development of the Unreal Engine — an engine that powers many modern console games.

Diamond assured Bandcamp users and supporters that the deal would not mean that Bandcamp would be changing operation: "We 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 continued that the music marketplace's "artist-first revenue model" would remain, with artists looking to take home an average of 82% on sales. Diamond also promised the continuation of Bandcamp Fridays — an initiative that gives artists the ability to take home 100% of their sales on the last Friday of every month

"I’m excited to announce that Bandcamp is joining Epic Games, who you may know as the makers of Fortnite and Unreal Engine, and champions for a fair and open Internet.

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, we’ll continue to build Bandcamp around our artists-first revenue model (where artists net an average of 82% of every sale), you’ll still have the same control over how you offer your music, Bandcamp Fridays will continue as planned, and the Daily will keep highlighting the diverse, amazing music on the site. However, behind the scenes we’re working with Epic to expand internationally and push development forward across Bandcamp, from basics like our album pages, mobile apps, merch tools, payment system, and search and discovery features, to newer initiatives like our vinyl pressing and live streaming services.

Since our founding in 2008, we’ve been motivated by the pursuit of our mission, which is to help spread the healing power of music by building a community where artists thrive through the direct support of their fans. That simple idea has worked well, with payments to artists and labels closing in on $1 billion USD. And while over the years we’ve heard from other companies who wanted us to join them, we’ve always felt that doing so would only be exciting if they strongly believed in our mission, were aligned with our values, and not only wanted to see Bandcamp continue, but also wanted to provide the resources to bring a lot more benefit to the artists, labels, and fans who use the site. Epic ticks all those boxes. 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.

Whether you joined Bandcamp recently or have been with us since the beginning 14 years ago, thank you for being a part of this incredible community, and we look forward to serving you for many years to come!"

Ethan Diamond

Bandcamp co-founder and CEO