Joe OrtizSep 28, 2023

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/

Epic Games is eliminating 16% of its workforce and selling Bandcamp

Epic Games said on Thursday that it's laying off 16% of its workforce and is selling Bandcamp, which it acquired last year.

CNBC
Show threadJoe OrtizSep 28, 2023
Here's a nice thread on the saga. https://mastodon.social/@mcc/111143889606615360
Show threadJoe OrtizSep 28, 2023
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.
Show threadwilliam.maggosSep 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

Show threadShineSep 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.
Show threadwilliam.maggos

@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.

Sep 29, 2023 at 12:32amWeb
Show threadmccSep 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)

Show threadwilliam.maggosSep 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.

Show threadShineSep 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.
Show threadShineSep 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.

Show threadPaulDavisTheFirstOct 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.
Show threadwilliam.maggosOct 16, 2023

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

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

Show threadPaulDavisTheFirstOct 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.