Erin

@cellhead

she/her

(Help, idk how to use this site and I'm too scared to ask)

Erin @cellhead9/28/2023, 9:55 PM

kuraine @kuraine

lydia aka DYKE TYSON @lydia9/28/2023, 4:00 PM

there's a ton in the epic games layoffs today, but included in this is they're selling off bandcamp

source tweet https://twitter.com/ShiinaBR/status/1707419347549896905

a year and a half after buying bandcamp, epic is selling bandcamp to a the largest music licensing company in the world known as SongTradr...

surely shoving one of the platforms that gives musicians the best terms being shoved under a b2b company that has a large amount of leverage over the industry and no prior interest in selling music to people will be fine, right? there's no way they decide to do anything harmful to either bandcamp, musicians, or listeners with this deal

#this fucking sucks man #bandcamp #music #bullshit

curious quail @curiousquail9/28/2023, 6:40 PM

this sucks a lot but quick reminder that you can use Itch.io as a bandcamp alternative in a pinch

It's not perfect or a long term 'replacement' (definitely doesn't have the built-in music buying audience that bandcamp does) but it does support selling music, and with this pretty rad tool from Torcado, you can easily create a bandcamp-like media player for your stuff, complete with album art, lyric pages, credits, etc.

I've had it set up for a while, you can see it in action here:
https://curiousquail.itch.io/twelvemonths

Screenshot of a music player on Itch.io with 12 songs listed, album art on display, and a tab for lyrics

If you're a musician interesting in setting this up and need some help, let me know - I'm happy to!

#bandcamp #itch.io #music #epic games #The Cohost Global Feed

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in reply to @lydia's post:

Robot Face @robotface9/28/2023, 4:19 PM

I guess if it goes to shit there's always fucking. itch.io??? Not a bad platform but not really focused on music

easrng @easrng9/29/2023, 3:11 AM

you can use blamscamp to sell music on itch.io :)

Robot Face @robotface9/29/2023, 3:22 AM

Yeah, but 1. There ought to be a native audio player and 2. People on itch are primarily there for videogames, maybe with a large secondary demographic for ttrpgs. Music, comics, and books are all technically supported, with their own categories, but it's just not a primary focus either of the website staff or the userbase, regardless of what 3rd party tools exist.

Sisyfos Tango @sisyfostango9/28/2023, 4:41 PM

there is just no winning EVER

mint @mintexists9/28/2023, 6:50 PM

fuck!

fran @fraaan9/28/2023, 7:24 PM

no fuck shit no no no

cassie @porglezomp9/28/2023, 8:40 PM

Their stated goal is to keep running bandcamp as-is and also have a big audience of musicians that they can offer music licensing deals to. Which on its own… basically makes sense?

My bigger concern on this front is just that they’re VC funded, which means they’re trouble no matter what their own intentions are.

in reply to @curiousquail's post:

sakiamu @sakiamu9/28/2023, 6:59 PM

I did not have "Itch, Tumblr* and Cohost are the only good sites left" on my bingo card for 2023

*Tumblr is varied due to history, but it's at least not currently actively on fire

curious quail @curiousquail9/28/2023, 7:13 PM

what a time to be alive, right??

sakiamu @sakiamu9/28/2023, 8:00 PM

Piss is a vegetable, after all.

Damn, lol

@lyn-wu9/28/2023, 10:23 PM

year is not over yet.

Binary @binary9/28/2023, 7:24 PM

Holy shit, this fucks.

curious quail @curiousquail9/28/2023, 7:30 PM

it's such a neat tool, it makes the process super easy

Binary @binary9/28/2023, 8:10 PM

For real. I've done a little messing with itch page formatting, this is some next-level shit though.

virtueisdead @virtueisdead9/28/2023, 10:16 PM

was waiting for this every day since the epic acquisition

curious quail @curiousquail9/29/2023, 1:24 AM

I figured it’d get gutted during the epic days - not sure if this is better or worse

virtueisdead @virtueisdead9/29/2023, 3:08 AM

worse. way, way, way worse. so so so much worse. epic had little interest or incentive to fuck with bandcamp, nor much authority to make changes without suffering backlash, but that cant be said anymore. the incentive, authority, and ability to ruin bandcamp is now all in one place.

Cr4shMyCar @Cr4shMyCar9/29/2023, 3:00 PM

man, this fuckin sucks. Bandcamp is one of the last good things on the internet and it's getting shuffled from one bad megacorp that has no incentive to fuck with it to another bad megacorp that has some incentive to fuck with it. it's like itch.io getting sold to EA. fuck this. everything sucks.