And, most recently,Bandcamp was bought by Songtradrwhich swiftly laid off 50% of its staff.
Its still by far-and-away the leader in its category.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
But here at TNW we had some questions: is all this necessarily true?
Are certain sites really too big to fail?
And could smaller companies use burgeoning tech like decentralisation to fight back against the might of Silicon Valley?
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
Well, were going to find out.
Lets begin by looking at a specific example:Bandcamp.
Think of it like an online record store where artists can sell their music and merchandise.
Widely beloved by fans and musicians alike, Bandcamp has a reputation for being artist-friendly.
It offers good cuts on sales and runs schemes likeBandcamp Friday, where it waives commission fees.
Yet like all good things on the internet, it couldnt last.
The platform waspurchased by Epic Games in 2022before being bought up by Songtradr this year.
In many ways, the platform is ripe for a competitor.
Yet that hasnt happened.
While the site is growing, its not going to be challenging Bandcamp any time soon.
The question then is why?
What would need to happen for Artcore and other such challenger platforms to usurp the current status quo?
Beyond has worked with businesses including Google, Snap, and YouTube to optimise product experiences.
Alongside this, Iliffe believes many smaller companies fail to compete is down to public perception.
Theres safety in established platforms, he tells me.
Effectively, better the devil you know than the one you dont.
A new platform must be ten times better than the one it hopes to win users from.
Or be radically new, Nicki Sprinz, Global MD ofustwotells me.
Their business helps create and design new products, something its done with thePeloton LanebreakandThe Body Coach.
What this means is a service attempting to be another version of Twitter or Bandcamp wont succeed.
It needs to look beyond being a copycat.
But theres hope: Technology is todays agent of creative destruction, Sprinz says.
Now one of the technologies thats offering a way of doing things differently isdecentralisation.
The question is whether it could be the remedy for smaller businesses to fight back against the biggest players?
The decentralisation question
To find out, I spoke with Martina Larkin, CEO ofProject Liberty.
This is a bodyspearheaded by billionaire Frank McCourtto build a new, decentralised internet.
The first is ease.
Fundamentally, thats what people want: a simple life.
While decentralised networks like Mastodon andBluesky are growing, they are nowhere near as user-friendly as Twitter.
The second point is around payments.
Theres reliability in a middle man, and this is especially true when it comes to money.
It doesnt matter whether these beliefs are logical, its simply the state were in.
But dont get disheartened this doesnt mean theres no hope for change.
For upstart platforms to alter the current system, the key is they need to do something different.
Looking to compete with Instagram or Twitter or Bandcamp isnt going to work.
Yet this isnt all, as simplicity and ease-of-use is king.
Well, we probably wont be quitting them any time soon.
