It would have been rare if this week we did not close it with another millionaire purchase of some company by another larger company. While Microsoft monopolizes all the video game studios, it seems that Epic Games is expanding its horizons and they have taken over Bandcamp, a platform and ecosystem for artists that will now be part of the creators of Fortnite. However… does this new acquisition have any logic?
What is Bandcamp?
Bandcamp is a company founded in 2008 by Ethan Diamond and several programmers. It is based in Oakland, California. Bandcamp is a middleman between music artists and their buyers . The business model is simple: creators upload their tracks to the platform, set a price, and Bandcamp provides the server and means of distribution . Buyers can pick up songs, donate money to artists, or even purchase their exclusive merchandise. Songs can also be given to friends and family.
Uploading music to Bandcamp is free, but the company keeps 15% of the income as a commission . Artists can upload their songs in a multitude of formats and price tracks differently depending on whether they are lossy or lossless. It is also possible to buy vinyl, CDs and other physical media . However, as of 2020, the majority of Bandcamp’s business revolves around merchandising . And this is what must have caught the attention of Epic Games.
Why has Epic Games bought Bandcamp?
We could say that the two banners of Epic are Fortnite and the Unreal Engine . However, they have already made previous purchases of services that have nothing to do with video games. For example, in 2019 they took over Houseparty , a video calling company. And, as ridiculous as it sounds, they did not do well even with the boom that competitors like Zoom had due to the pandemic.
However, Bandcamp’s move has a much clearer goal. If what moves the most money on said platform are the merchandising products related to artists … white and in the bottle. Epic Games must have seen a fantastic opportunity to take over an already established store and enter the NFT market with an art-focused marketplace . In fact, in the press release that Epic Games has published, these intentions can already be read “Bandcamp will play a very important role in Epic’s vision of creating an ecosystem focused on content, technology, art, video games, music and much more.
At the moment, we do not know if Epic plans to introduce NFTs in its video games or if it plans to enter the world with a marketplace similar to that of its competitors, but the intention of the purchase is very clear. The ecosystem of content creators is evolving towards this type of platform and Epic Games has not wanted to miss the opportunity by securing a position in the market. At the moment, we do not know how much the acquisition cost is , but we assume that the data will be made public within a few days.
