In March final yr, Epic Video games, maker of hit online game Fortnite and Unreal Engine acquired on-line music retailer and direct-to-fan platform Bandcamp.

In a press release printed by Epic on the time, the corporate stated that Bandcamp will play an “vital function” in its “imaginative and prescient to construct out a creator market ecosystem for content material, know-how, video games, artwork, music and extra”.

Since then, Epic Video games has been pretty quiet about its plans for Bandcamp, however on Friday (February 17), its flagship sport Fortnite revealed that the music platform is curating its ‘Radio Underground’ radio station till Wednesday, March 8, 2023 (for the remainder of its Battle Royale Chapter 4 Season 1).

The curated station consists of music from 11 acts, together with New Zealand rock band The Beths, Californian noise pop band Starflyer 59, and pop punk band Gladie.

It additionally consists of, amongst many others, ‘Publish disco’ duo De Lux, producer Ronnie Martin, and New York disco, rock and soul act, POW WOW!

Though this curated station is simply the primary BandCamp and Fortnite tie-up post-acquisition, the mixing is a much bigger deal than you would possibly assume, and probably an indication of issues to come back.

Activeplayer.io estimates that Fortnite had roughly 390 million registered customers in Q1 of 2021 and that there have been a median of 229 million common month-to-month gamers during the last 30 days.

Utilizing the music of these impartial acts to soundtrack gameplay for a extremely engaged viewers serves as a precious promotional software for these artists.

That’s as a result of these artists’ music might be heard by probably tens of millions of Fortnite gamers, a few of whom would possibly then go to these artists’ Bandcamp pages, the place they promote merch and music.

Plus, for Epic Video games, as famous by The Verge, its acquisition of Bandcamp has given it ‘simple, moral entry to licensed music’.

The Verge studies, citing an Epic spokesperson, that all the music featured within the curated station can be ‘appropriate to be streamed on platforms like Twitch’.

Saying its acquisition in March final yr, Epic stated that it and Bandcamp “share a mission of constructing probably the most artist-friendly platform that allows creators to maintain the vast majority of their hard-earned cash”.

For Bandcamp, the latter a part of that imaginative and prescient has materialized in initiatives like Bandcamp Fridays, which initially launched in early 2020 on the top of the COVID-19 pandemic when lockdowns impacted the earnings of indie artists from excursions and exhibits.

In response, the corporate waived its share of income and donated all gross sales to artists for twenty-four hours on March 20, 2022.

The Bandcamp group spent $4.3 million on music and merch on that day, round 15 occasions greater than the quantity they spend on a standard Friday. The proceeds had been all directed to artists. Bandcamp continued the initiative within the following first Fridays of each month after that.

Within the 21 Bandcamp Fridays that adopted, greater than $78 million was paid to artists and labels, “serving to cowl rents, mortgages, groceries, medicines, and way more,” in keeping with a press release from Bandcamp co-founder Ethan Diamond printed on August 22. Almost 800,000 followers have participated within the Bandcamp Fridays program.

The acquisition of Bandcamp by Epic Video games, which is backed by Sony Corp and valued at about $32 billion, marked a deeper growth into the music enterprise for the corporate, after buying Harmonix, creator of the favored Rock Band and Dance Central franchises for an undisclosed sum in November 2021.

When Epic purchased Harmonix, – hinted at formidable plans in music, stating that it could collaborate carefully with Harmonix “to develop musical journeys and gameplay for Fortnite” and that Harmonix will proceed to help current titles together with Rock Band 4.

The agency’s flagship sport Fortnite has additionally served as a well-attended digital efficiency and video premiere house for quite a few main stars, whereas its Unreal Engine is used as the muse for 3D music movies created by Sony Music‘s Immersive Music Studios.Music Enterprise Worldwide