Today may be the last Bandcamp Friday ever

Since March 2020 Bandcamp has waived its revenue share on the first Friday of every month to help support independent artists and labels who have seen their livelihoods disrupted by the pandemic.

As of earlier this year 800,000 fans have paid artists and labels more than $73 million dollars on these special Fridays.

But today Friday, May 6th, is the last publically announced Bandcamp Friday.

Perhaps the pnandmeic is “over,” however the financial needs of independent artists are not, and Bandcamp has problems that could prevent it from contuing the promotion

Bandcamp was acquired by Epic Games, which may be more focused on profits, and is fighting a fee increase for transactions on Google Android, which Bandcamp and Epic are in court fighting to stop it.

MORE: Bandcamp in fight with Google that could mean high fees, payment delays

Bruce Houghton is Founder and Editor of Hypebot and MusicThinkTank and serves as a Senior Advisor to Bandsintown which acquired both publications in 2019. He is the Founder and President of the Skyline Artists Agency and a professor for the Berklee College Of Music.