50% of Bandcamp employees laid off after its second sale in 18 months

Less than a month after the announcement that music licensing company Songtradr had purcharsed Bandcamp off of Epic Games, Bandcamp has laid off 60 of the company's 118 employees.

Bandcamp was founded in 2008 and holds a unique position among streaming platforms for its artist friendly revenue system and active fan communities.

In March 2020, in response to artists no longer being able to generate income from live performances, the company launched Bandcamp Friday, which gives musicians 100% of profits for sales occurring on the first Friday of every month.

After the purchase of Bandcamp by Epic Games in March of 2022, CEO Ethan Diamond said artists selling on Bandcamp will continue to 'receive an average of 82%' of every sale. Diamond continued to say that: 'the products and services you depend on aren’t going anywhere, and we will continue to build Bandcamp around our artists-first revenue model'.

Bandcamp operated as an independent company until its purchase by Epic Games. In September 2023, as part of cost-saving measures, Epic Games laid off 830 of its own employees and sold Bandcamp to music licensing company Songtradr.

Less than 4 weeks after this announcement, Songtradr announced that they would lay off 50% of Bandcamp's staff. Staff at Bandcamp reacted to the news today taking via X.

Editor JJ Skolnik described the layoff in a tweet on X as "a loss, no two ways about it."

One writer Atoosa Moinzadeh described the process as 'two weeks of waiting in limbo'. She offered teh opinion that "there has been no humanity extended in this process."

The announcement may come as a surprise to many after the streaming platform Songtradr issued a post on X three weeks ago saying the company would operate Bandcamp as 'business as usual'.

- It’s business as usual.

- There will be no changes to existing services or the artist-first revenue share.

— Songtradr (@songtradr) September 30, 2023

However Epic Games have pointed out to Hot Press that on September 28, the day the company announced its layoffs and divestiture from Bandcamp, the company shared with Bandcamp employees that we understood Songtradr would be extending offers to some Bandcamp employees in waves in the coming weeks.

"We also let them know," spokesperson Elka Looks added, "that Bandcamp employees not receiving offers will be offered severance by Epic and be part of Epic’s layoffs. Now that the transaction with Songtradr has closed and all offers have been extended, we’ve notified employees who are being laid off.

"We are offering them," she clarified, "the same severance terms that were offered to Epic employees laid off on September 28."

Of Bandcamp's 118 employees, 60 of the employers were asked to stay on. Of those 60 employees, 58 decided to retain their positions at Bandcamp.

Bandcamp United, a union formed after Bandcamp's acquisition by Epic Games, has asked Songtradr to extend redundancy packages to the two members of staff who did not retain their positions.

The union was recognised by Epic Games in May of 2023, but has yet to be recognised by Songtradr.

Sandy Pope, OPEIU's (Office and Professional Employees International Union) bargaining director, said that negotiations with Epic Games were going well as of August of 2023, adding "It makes you wonder if they knew something was coming and decided it wasn’t worth putting up a big fight. You can’t sell a company overnight."