At the beginning of March, Epic Games announced that it purchased Bandcamp, which confused and surprised many members of both the gaming and the music industries.
In statements that both of these companies released, they agreed that they have a shared mission of building an artist-friendly platform that’s going to allow its creators to keep most of their hard-earned money.
The statement also went on to elaborate that Bandcamp was going to play an important role in developing a new creator marketplace ecosystem for content, games, music, art, technology, and more, according to the vision that Epic Games currently has.
Although Bandcamp is going to continue operating as an independent community, it’s going to be using the resources that Epic Games can offer to create more benefits for its artists, labels, and fans that are all using the platform.
When the live music industry reacted to the global pandemic, as in-person shows and concerts, as well as all other events, started getting canceled, virtual concerts became very popular. That made a clear connection between the crossover of Epic Games and Bandcamp inside Fortnite for a virtual concert series.
Numerous artists along with the likes of Ariana Grande and Travis Scott have performed inside Fortnite, while Twenty One Pilots and Lil Nas X have done the same inside Roblox. Last year, Fortnite launched a concert series titled Soundwave, which aimed at showcasing non-American pop artists on a global stage.
Soundwave provides those artists with a platform where they can reach new audiences, while also allowing Epic Games to target very specific demographics and markets.
Although the Bandcamp acquisition was surprising for many consumers, it’s surely going to be one of the many future music partnerships as the industry starts making bigger moves and integrating more inside the gaming space.
Additionally, artists are no longer going to be limited solely by music videos and audio releases.
One of the biggest opportunities that they get with this immersive digital environment that has been created is the ability to control and design every single element inside the digital environment, from the soundscape to the way that the artist interacts with others inside the environment.
They’ll be able to create the exact emotional experience that they want the audience to have.
For example, if they want to present a song for the summer, they can put the listeners inside a convertible driving beside the seashore.
On the other hand, if it’s a deeper, more moody song, they can take the listeners on a more intimate journey alongside the artists as they are both working through the emotions of that song.
By artists being able to precisely control the environment of the audience, the narrative of their artistry is only going to become more meaningful and deeper.
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