Epic Games has filed a preliminary injunction to stop Google from removing Independent Bandcamp’s music store from the Android App Store – which Google apparently threatened to do because Bandcamp uses its own charging system instead of paying Google for the App Store .
Bandcamp, which Epic acquired in March, has been using its own Android charging system since 2015 and managed to do so due to rules exempting digital music from using Google’s charging system, according to a blog post by Bandcamp co-founder and CEO director Ethan Diamond. “However, Google is now changing its policy to require Bandcamp (and other applications like it) to use exclusively Google Play Billing for payments for digital goods and services and to pay a share of Google’s revenue,” Diamond said.
According to the new rules, Google Bandcamp will have to make changes from June 1. Diamond says Bandcamp will be forced to choose between transferring customer fees, transferring artists’ fees, running their Android business at a loss, or shutting down sales in the Android app.
“Paying Google […] will force Epic to change the current business model of Bandcamp ”- Epic
Epic claims that moving to Google’s billing system will affect its ability to continue giving artists 82 percent of its Bandcamp revenue because it will have to pay Google 10 percent – yes, 10 percent, not 30 percent. as it looks like Google has offered Bandcamp a bit of an expensive deal here. “Paying Google even a 10% share of revenue would force Epic to change Bandcamp’s current business model or otherwise run Bandcamp’s business at a long-term loss,” Epic said.
Epic also claims that music artists may have to wait longer for their money, saying that the current payment system allows artists to be paid within 24 to 48 hours after the sale, but that Google does not pay developers up to “15 to 45 days after sale.”
While this argument certainly sounds convincing, it didn’t work when another platform trying to pay the creators, Fanhouse, tried it against Apple last year. Fanhouse added a 50% surcharge to cover Apple’s tax. This may be why Epic is going to court instead of just trying to publicly embarrass Google – but it could also be that Epic hopes to use Bandcamp as a pawn in its bigger fight against Google and Apple. . Epic sued both Apple and Google in August 2020, alleging antitrust violations after both platforms kicked Fortnite out of their stores when Epic introduced its own payment mechanism in the in-game app. Google’s case will not be pending until 2023.
In a statement today, Epic said Google was changing its policies “under the guise of a ‘clarification’ it announced in September 2020.” But this update didn’t just affect Epic – earlier this month Barnes & Noble removed the ability to purchase digital books from its Android app, while Audible no longer allows you to use a debit or credit card to purchase Audible titles as if for to avoid paying Google’s fee. And in this case, it seems that Google has offered Bandcamp a 10 percent discount, not 30.
Google has offered to take only 10% of the revenue from Bandcamp
Epic also notes that building an infrastructure to integrate Google’s billing system will “require significant time and effort” – currently the solution in the Bandcamp application is “fully integrated with PayPal”. But again, as Epic admits, Google announced these changes more than a year ago and before Epic bought Bandcamp. It seems likely that Epic was aware of the upcoming billing changes when it bought the company.
And it wouldn’t be out of character for Epic to lay the groundwork for a legal trap well in advance. Epic’s own internal emails indicate that it has set such a trap in the Fortnite case: “[T]its goal is to lure Google into a lawsuit over antitrust, ”Epic Marketing Director Hasib Meilk wrote in an email from September 2019. If we are rejected just because we offer a solution to pay Epic. The battle begins. Would be fun!”
You can read two such emails here – look for items # 35 and # 38. And you can read all the movement embedded below.
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