<Tweet about Epic buying Bandcamp>
Strange.
I'm so mad, you don't even know.
Me too! I love(d) Bandcamp and usually bought my albums there. The cool thing about the service, to those who dont know: they offered purchased downloads (Mp3, lossless) but also physical media – CDs and vinyls – that came with the download additionally. It was a bit like the Steam for audio that I always wanted. It also has a streaming app for the phone where you could stream your library. Just overall a great service, that also didnt exploit artists, like Spotify does.
And now theyre in the hands of a company I despise. Fucking hell. I hope that I find an alternative. Hell, I prefer to give money to Apple instead of Epic if it comes to it. iTunes at least still lets me BUY music instead of the streaming-only hell everyone else is steering. But I guess alternatives will always pop up.
I just wish these alternatives would build there service to just be a good and sustainable business instead of aiming to be bought up by someone.
As Epic continues to gobble up any and all middleware services even tangentially related to games, I never ever want to hear anyone say how they are the underdog and not at all gunning towards becoming a monopoly in a way that Steam/Valve have never even dared.
This level of vertical and horizonal integration will not be good for anyone should they flip a switch and decide to put their own interests first. Again, lots of folks liked Google, Amazon, et al. when they first rolled into the scene since they could displace the status quo in way that seemed beneficial to folks, but now that they have their rule of the roost, they are full mask off and can do as they please with little recourse.
Yeah... exactly
This is so shitty. Now I can't support the artists I like on Bandcamp without that money going to Epic's monopolistic nonsense. With the alternatives being... Apple, Amazon, Google. Yay. Hopefully I can find a "donate" page for the artists and just pirate and pay them directly from now on.
And from those, Google already stopped selling downloadable music and went streaming only – with somehow a worse UI than before. Google Play Music was a great service that even let you upload your own stuff to build a library online. Had a shit UI but still, a great service. But Google axes services whenever they feel like it. (Looking at you, Stadia.)