Mastodawn

Here's a nice thread on the saga. https://mastodon.social/@mcc/111143889606615360

What we really need in the long run is a creator-owned preferably decentralized music platform alternative and I hope there's people out there in the world that is willing to create one.

Joe Ortiz Oct 11, 2023

"Employees were not included in Epic's sale of #Bandcamp. Songtradr purchased the platform's business and operations but not its staff"

Only a matter of time before the #enshittification button is inevitably pushed. https://www.wired.com/story/epic-games-sale-bandcamp-music-platform-limbo/
https://web.archive.org/web/20231011071725/https://www.wired.com/story/epic-games-sale-bandcamp-music-platform-limbo/
https://archive.li/O7TSd

Epic Games’ Sale of Bandcamp Has Left the Artist-Friendly Music Platform in Limbo

Bandcamp workers say they are unable to do their jobs after being locked out of critical systems. They’re also expecting layoffs.

WIRED

More reactions:
https://social.lol/@stefan/111245993557957559
https://spaceballs.masto.host/@nedraggett/111245861885056429
https://www.theverge.com/2023/10/16/23919551/bandcamp-layoffs-epic-songtradr

Joe Ortiz Oct 16, 2023

Welp, almost 50% of #Bandcamp staffers were laid off today. The #enshittification button push was inevitable as I said. https://nitter.unixfox.eu/modernistwitch/status/1713962311579234428

Hacker News discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37905638

It surely didn't take too long for #EpicGames and #Songtradr to say "Fuck the Bandcamp workers for our bottom lines!"

I'm sure @bandcampunited has tons to say about this in due time.

Support them!!

EDIT: I added a news link to the thread above to further describe the layoffs and the #enshittification of #Bandcamp

It's a sad sight.

Joe Ortiz Oct 19, 2023

"Bandcamp’s entire union bargaining team, the eight union members democratically elected by their peers to negotiate their first union contract, were laid off when #EpicGames sold #Bandcamp to music licensing company #Songtradr on Monday." https://www.404media.co/bandcamps-entire-union-bargaining-team-was-laid-off/

That is #enshittification at it's finest folks.

Like I said at the top of this very thread, I would strongly advise getting two external hard drives depending on your size and download your purchased #music ASAP before it's too late.

Bandcamp’s Entire Union Bargaining Team Was Laid Off

Songtradr, which has acquired Bandcamp from Epic Games, said it did not have union membership information, but Songtradr’s CEO invited the bargaining team to a meeting last week.

404 Media

David O'Brien Oct 16, 2023

That is so distressing to hear.

Bandcamp paid artists fairly and was a good platform for so long.

@joeo10

@iamdavidobrien Yeah they were and it's sad that soon, I might have to refer to them in the past tense more often. :(

Tim N7KOM Oct 16, 2023

@joeo10 @bandcampunited damn, Bandcamp has been my favorite place to purchase music for years.

@tsherrygeo @bandcampunited It's a good idea to download your purchased music ASAP before it's too late as I mentioned at the start of this thread.

Tim N7KOM Oct 18, 2023

@joeo10 @bandcampunited Yup, I download everything I buy.

Jason Evangelho 🐧🎒Oct 16, 2023

@joeo10 @bandcampunited Fuck. I don't know what else to say right now.

Claudia Miles Oct 16, 2023

@joeo10 @bandcampunited @julieofthespirits It's pretty awful.

AnthonyJK-Admin Oct 16, 2023

@joeo10 @bandcampunited

It goes without saying: Anything that can be useful for regular folks will eventually be bought out, privatized, and deunionized for private profit.

#CapitalismIsEnshittificstionMonetized
#Bandcamp #Enshittification

Nicd Oct 17, 2023

@joeo10 @bandcampunited Wow, this is sad. :( I loved Bandcamp, it was my main source of purchasing music if an artist was on there.

@nicd @bandcampunited And now, it seems to me unless something else comes up, musicians and users alike are likely be at the mercy of Apple and Spotify.

A sad sight. :(

Jesse Oct 18, 2023

@joeo10 @bandcampunited Good lord, I know it's HN, but the private equity bronalysis in that HN thread 💀

@jaawerth I know, but it's still a influential website and there are folks there that are just as frustrated and pissed as we are.

Jesse Oct 18, 2023

@joeo10 fwiw, wasn't trying to drag you for linking it or anything, just expressing my horror after seeing way more armchair venture capitalist takes in there than I'd braced myself for ;-)

@jaawerth No worries, I encounter some myself for the record.

soc Sep 28, 2023

@joeo10 I'll imagine that artists will be the first ones to complain...

david turgeon Sep 28, 2023

@joeo10 well, i made a non-decentralized one in 1998 & it's still going: https://notype.com

william.maggos Sep 28, 2023

@joeo10 @mcc

I'm hoping @funkwhale could be that eventually, but we also need something like a decentralized automatic donation system. how do we organize around making this happen?

cc @ryno

Shine Sep 28, 2023

@wjmaggos @joeo10 @mcc @funkwhale @ryno I don't think that the payment system needs to be decentralized? We already have liberapay and open collective, I'm pretty sure both can be leveraged for such purpose. Payment processing is replaceable, what matters is the actual media store.

william.maggos Sep 29, 2023

@shine @joeo10 @mcc @funkwhale @ryno

any centralized system can be bought or pressured. if we're asking people to build their livelihood around something new, they should have total independence. a #Bandcamp alternative where each site is actually independent but seems like a connected whole like the fedi is to #Xitter, making it simple for fans, is needed. but we should also figure out a shared open payment protocol that interfaces with all our banks but is then simple for musicians.

mcc Sep 29, 2023

@wjmaggos @shine @joeo10 @funkwhale @ryno In principle I think this would be great, but it seems to me decentralized payment is a very difficult problem, and it seems most likely any attempt to solve it right now would likely quickly be taken over by the cryptocurrency crowd, at which point scammers and speculators descend on your system, take it over, and eat it from the inside out

(and then, as @ill_logic mentioned in another thread, regulators step in and shut it down)

william.maggos Sep 29, 2023

@mcc @shine @joeo10 @funkwhale @ryno @ill_logic

I wonder if something couldn't be built with the new #FedNow tool. perhaps post something as simple as an fedi or email account (but for your bank) and get payments to flow directly. I wonder if anyone is trying to build this.
https://www.frbservices.org/financial-services/fednow

FedNow Service

The FedNow Service will help enable financial institutions to deliver end-to-end faster payment services to their customers.

Shine Sep 29, 2023

@wjmaggos @mcc @joeo10 @funkwhale @ryno @ill_logic you can't really use that out of US, can you. In EU, you could easily use SEPA, but I don't know about any unified solution that works across the world.

Shine Sep 29, 2023

@wjmaggos @joeo10 @mcc @funkwhale @ryno it can. But it's also possible to replace it. If bandcamp changed payment provider, hardly anyone would notice. It's the loss of Bandcamp itself that is an issue.

As for "looking centralized for newcomers", I have some ideas around it I'd like to try on fedi.

PaulDavisTheFirst Oct 16, 2023

@wjmaggos @shine @joeo10 @mcc @funkwhale @ryno i cannot agree that "any centralized system can be bought". What matters is not centralization (in the technological sense) but distribution of ownership. You need a service "owned" or "controlled" by enough people that it will not be possible to force or even pressure a sale.

william.maggos Oct 16, 2023

@PaulDavisTheFirst @shine @joeo10 @mcc @funkwhale @ryno

but over time, that ownership can be consolidated. it will just take more time/money.

PaulDavisTheFirst Oct 16, 2023

@wjmaggos @shine @joeo10 @mcc @funkwhale @ryno not if the ownership is 15000 musicians. and not if you cannot sell ownership other than back to the conglomerate.

Dan Sep 28, 2023

@wjmaggos @joeo10 @mcc @funkwhale @ryno LBRY could have been well positioned here (though I know blockchains aren't popular in these parts) but the SEC destroyed the company and made the legal status of the system unclear.

ロベルトファルク ☕Sep 28, 2023

@joeo10 Oh crap, right when I was getting almost comfortable with Epic seemingly not messing with Bandcamp…

@Streakmachine Yep, I feel that Epic brought Bandcamp solely as a defensive move against Apple in their lawsuit.

Now they're selling it to a worse company that's likely going to decay it (hope I'm wrong but I know where this is eventually going).

ロベルトファルク ☕Sep 28, 2023

@joeo10 Yeah, I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

E.K.-Lounge Sep 28, 2023

@joeo10 #Enshittification by Cory @pluralistic Doctorow:
https://youtu.be/mSeBelDVrgE

Against Enshittification | Cory Doctorow | Medium Day 2023

YouTube

Erik Ellestad Sep 28, 2023

@joeo10 I can't say the purchase of Bandcamp by Epic Megagames ever made any sense to me.

@ellestad I still say Epic brought Bandcamp as a defensive move in order for a Big Tech company (say Apple) not to buy it and prove something in their Apple lawsuit. Never made sense really.

Cara Bruar Sep 28, 2023

@joeo10 Rule 1 -- if a company you deal with is sold or merged or taken over, leave. It will not end well.

jfml - Jonas Laugs Sep 28, 2023

@joeo10 Why can't we have nice things ... #FuckCapitalism

Nicolas Folliot ⏚🔻Sep 28, 2023

@joeo10 Might be a good time to check #resonate again, the co-op streaming platform with an exciting manifesto. https://resonate.coop/manifesto/

Manifesto

Resonate manifesto

Resonate

Jaxom Kaplan Sep 28, 2023

@joeo10 ow noez

Steve Dinn 🇨🇦Sep 29, 2023

@joeo10 Damn it. Bandcamp has been where I've bought all the music I've bought for the past several years. One of the only legit places left where you can download non-DRM, lossless versions of the music you buy.

Seriously, if anyone knows of any other places where you can do that, I would like to know about them.

James M. Woodward Sep 29, 2023

@joeo10 oh no. I love #bandcamp. Weird indie shit, super easy and DAMNIT #EPIC.

Simon Landmine Sep 29, 2023

This looks like it could be something for #ListeningClub folks to notice!

https://mastodon.sdf.org/@joeo10/111143974726002301

Joe Ortiz (@[email protected])

If you're using #Bandcamp, I would strongly advise getting two external hard drives depending on your size and download your purchased #music ASAP since the new owners are a marketing B2B company and I know where this is eventually going. https://www.cnbc.com/2023/09/28/epic-games-is-eliminating-16percent-of-its-workforce-and-selling-bandcamp.html I would not be surprised if Songtradr is going to push the #enshittification button on it. https://www.songtradr.com/blog/posts/songtradr-bandcamp-acquisition/

Mastodon @ SDF

viNomadic Oct 1, 2023

@SimonLandmine 😟 uhoh… #listeningclub #enshitificationWatch

Corin Ashwell 🌍 🌿 🍄🏳️‍⚧️Oct 1, 2023

@vinomadic @SimonLandmine dammit, looks like I'm going to have to work out my problems with burning to CD on macos sooner rather than later

viNomadic Oct 1, 2023

@corin_ja @SimonLandmine to quote (paraphrase?) Chaka Khan, ‘I feel for you’! #listeningclub

Dec [{(

)}]Oct 4, 2023

@corin_ja @vinomadic @SimonLandmine
Or skip the optical-disc step, and copy to any external storage (USB, SD) that your devices of choice can play from.
I have a few CD and DVD players whose lasers have died. Most of my CD collection has been ripped and saved as lossless files, for "flash drive" playback.
The same microSD cards can be plugged into a Blu-Ray player, or an old SanDisk Fuze portable.

Corin Ashwell 🌍 🌿 🍄🏳️‍⚧️Oct 4, 2023

@dec23k @vinomadic @SimonLandmine yeah for backup purposes CDs are not great. In my case it was more just because I have a nice 30-year-old CD player in my hifi system that I like to listen to music from, and I thought I had ages to get around to burning my Bandcamp collection for that purpose!