The Pop Corporation

It isn’t generally a good sign when a company takes over another company and promptly sacks half the staff, is it? Seen the absolute shambles at Twitter? Exactly. And so to Bandcamp, depressingly.

Music licensing company Songtradr bought the platform – widely regarded to be the saviour of independent musicians getting any kind of income – and laid of staff after buying them from Epic Games.

In a statement, Songtradr said: “This acquisition will help Bandcamp continue to grow within a music-first company and enable Songtradr to expand its capabilities to support the artist community.”

“Over the past few years the operating costs of Bandcamp have significantly increased – after a comprehensive evaluation, including the importance of roles for smooth business operations and pre-existing functions at Songtradr, 50% of Bandcamp employees have accepted offers to join Songtradr.”

It appears that a lot of the losses relate to the editorial side of things, which has been a great tool for people finding music in a sea of music publications only covering bands with big PR behind them. It’s troubling, but we hope we’re proven wrong. Bandcamp Daily was a first port of call for people trying to find new independent artists.

Bandcamp has been a game changer for smaller bands, and it’s been reported that $1.2bn has been spent on groups, with a whopping 82% of that going directly to the artists or label.

The workers’ union, Bandcamp United, described the layoffs as “heartbreaking”, adding: “We love our jobs, the platform we’ve built, and the Bandcamp community. We’re glad we have our union – co-workers who have each other’s backs. We’ll be moving together to decide what our next steps are. On Wednesday we return to the bargaining table with Epic Games, and we’ll keep you updated.”

We’ll keep an eye on this as it develops.