Bandcamp employees in the United States have formed a union, they announced today. Members of the site’s editorial, design, support and engineering staff are calling for “a fair and timely election” as Bandcamp United, organizing with Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU) Local 1010. “We all choose to join this company as an extension of our own love of independent music, and we believe that a site like Bandcamp that claims to offer an ethical and fair alternative to the streaming economy should reflect its mission internally,” they wrote in their mission statement. Read the rest here.
Bandcamp workers join other unions relatively new to the music industry, including Moog, Secretly Group and Spotify, in addition to the Musicians and Organized Workers Union. The union campaign comes almost exactly one year after Bandcamp announced that Epic Games, the company behind the popular game Fortnitehad acquired the music platform for an undisclosed sum.
Ethan Diamond, co-founder and current CEO of Bandcamp, said in a statement to Rolling Stone, “We are aware that some Bandcamp employees are looking to organize a union. Employees have the right to organize and we are reviewing the petition to understand their concerns.” In announcing the purchase of Epic last year, Diamond promised that the company would “continue to build Bandcamp around our artist-first revenue model.”
