surasshu

maybe i’m overreacting but this is just so trashy. what was once a grassroots initiative (bandcamp friday) by an independent company (bandcamp), intended to support artists at a strenuous time (covid lockdown), has now fully eroded into a weird ad opportunity by a giant corporation like roland. it feels so icky, like roland is at least SOMEWHAT related, but if they’re willing to do this, what else are they doing? who owns bandcamp currently again?

remember when they sold bandcamp to epic, and the ceo went out of his way to be like “don’t worry! this will be great for bandcamp, we wouldn’t just sell out for a quick buck after all, we love you musicians!” of course, epic did absolutely fuck all and then unceremoniously sold bandcamp down the river (what was even the purpose of them buying it???). this time, no message at all–hoping we wouldn’t notice this happening maybe? i even had to look up who bought it now: songtradr, a song license company… man…

it’s tiresome is all. bandcamp was the place for some really underground stuff, some great writing, interviews etc, and just generally one of the VERY few places where you could just release music in a good way. it wasn’t perfect by any stretch, but it worked. now it’s not quite gone but… how much longer? i feel like the clock is ticking and the writing is on the wall.

(EDIT: and then they go and do something like this. it’s like the bandcamp i know and love is still in there but slowly being suffocated by a malevolent entity)