It was known from the start that layoffs would happen, and indeed Epic and Songtradr were fairly straightforward about their necessity as part of the deal — technically the employees were laid off by Epic ahead of the formal acquisition, though it was Songtradr that decided who would and would not be hired. It was never clear whether they were talking about a few redundancies in web design and sales, or across-the-board cuts.
Well, that was inevitable. I come at this from a few different perspectives; as a creator as well as an angel investor and writer. And I can say very confidently that Bandcamp has stagnated for some time. Its acquisition by Songtradr makes sense for Epic who are writing this down as a loss. It probably makes sense for Songtradr, if only for the community they’re buying in the process. But we’re yet to see how much sense it makes for the Bandcamp users.
