God, thinking about Bandcamp kind of crushes me right now. A sustainable, beloved platform for musicians and listeners. Music discovery powered by daily hand-curated lists. Radio shows.
Sold by Ethan Diamond for a quick buck from Epic Games, who did precisely nothing with it than sold it unceremoniously to Songtradr, who laid off most of its staff including its entire union bargaining team. Now, per Nathan Grayson at Aftermath, Bandcamp is "just trying to 'keep the lights on'". To call this a "tragedy" might absolve those ghouls who executed this sale of responsibility, as though this is something that simply happens to platforms, like a rainstorm or a branch coming off a tree. These losses (hundreds of engineers, curators, programmers etc.) are the consequence of choices made by a very small number of people looking for a fuller wallet.
Ethan Diamond gets the tall Christmas tree by the window in his nice house. He unboxes a rare Gretsch that he bought himself. That man just loves music. Tim Sweeney, who maybe heard about Bandcamp once and has no understanding of money any more is excited to dig in and play Spiderman 2. It's so important to check out all the exciting games coming out. What a great time to be a gamer. Tomorrow he will go for a ride in his new jeep with a new kind of suspension. When he gets home the lady he employs to make him his dinner will make him his dinner. His broker makes a bid for an extremely rare Captain America issue. What a time to be alive.