Is this the REAL reason Epic Games acquired Bandcamp?

<p>Welcome to the latest episode of Talking Trends, the weekly podcast from <a href='https://musicbusinessworldwide.com/'>Music Business Worldwide</a> (MBW) – where we go deep behind the headlines of news stories affecting the entertainment industry. Talking Trends is supported by <a href='http://www.volymusic.com/'>Voly Music.</a><br/><b><br/></b>This week on Talking Trends, MBW founder, Tim Ingham, responds to the news that US-based video games giant, Epic Games, has fully acquired online independent music retailer Bandcamp.<br/><br/>Following the <a href='https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/bandcamp-acquired-by-fortnite-maker-epic-games/'>surprise acquisition earlier this month</a>, some suggested that Epic&apos;s driving reason to buy Bandcamp was the buzzword of the year – the metaverse – and the use of music within it. (Epic is, after all, the maker/owner of Fortnite, which has already hosted some major music events featuring artists such as Travis Scott and Ariana Grande.)<br/><br/>Ingham posits a different theory. He notes that, according to its co-founder, Ethan Diamond, Bandcamp has been profitable since 2012. In addition, Bandcamp charges its customers (indie artists) just 10-15% commission rates as a retailer – and on Bandcamp Fridays, it charges nothing at all.<br/><br/>Last year, Ingham notes, Epic Games failed to force Apple to reduce its 30% commission rate for large app makers as part of an ill-tempered legal battle. That failure potentially cost Epic hundreds of millions of dollars a year, notes Ingham, much of it from microtransactions taking place within Fortnite.<br/><br/>In that legal battle, Epic cited its own Epic Games Store – on which it sells its own games and third-party titles for just a 12% commission – as an example of how a digital store could be run successfully without the need to charge a much higher 30% (as Apple does on its App Store).<br/><br/>But Epic came unstuck when Apple probed the finances of this Games Store, which, it transpired, was making heavy losses. <br/><br/>