Epic Games has filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop Google from removing the indie music storefront Bandcamp from the Android App Store — something Google apparently threatened to do because Bandcamp uses its own billing system instead of paying Google for the app store.
According to Bandcamp co-founder and CEO Ethan Diamond. “However, Google is now changing its rules to require Bandcamp (and other similar apps) to exclusively use Google Play Billing to pay for digital goods and services and pay Google a revenue share,” Diamond said.
According to Google’s new rules, Bandcamp must change starting June 1. Diamond said Bandcamp will be forced to choose between passing on fees to customers, passing fees to artists, running an Android business at a loss or shutting down Android app sales.
“Pay Google […] Will force Epic to change Bandcamp’s current business model” – Epic
Epic argues that switching to Google’s billing system will affect its ability to continue to provide artists with 82% of Bandcamp’s revenue, since it has to pay Google 10% — yes, 10%, not 30%, as Google seems to pay Bandcamp offers some somewhat sweetheart deals. “Even paying Google a 10% revenue share would force Epic to change Bandcamp’s current business model or run the Bandcamp business at a loss for a long time,” Epic thinks.
Epic also claims that music artists may also have to wait longer to get paid, saying its current payment system allows artists to receive payments within 24 to 48 hours of a sale, but Google won’t send payments until “15 to 45 days.” Developers pay for after-sale. “
While the argument does sound convincing, it didn’t work out when Fanhouse, another platform trying to pay creators, tried against Apple last year. Fanhouse ended up adding a 50% surcharge to cover the Apple tax. This may be why Epic went to court rather than simply trying to publicly shame Google — but it could also be Epic’s desire to use Bandcamp as a pawn in its larger battle with Google and Apple. Epic sued Apple and Google in August 2020, alleging antitrust violations after both platforms were kicked Fortnite When Epic introduced their own in-app payment mechanism in the game, their store closed. The Google case won’t go to trial until 2023.
In today’s filing, Epic said Google is changing its policy “under the guise of a ‘clarification’ announced in September 2020.” But the update doesn’t just affect Epic — earlier this month, Barnes & Noble removed the ability to buy digital books from its Android app, and Audible no longer lets you buy Audible books with a debit or credit card, seemingly in order to Avoid paying Google fees. In this case, Google appears to be offering a 10% discount to Bandcamp, not 30%.
Google offers to take only 10% revenue share from Bandcamp
Epic also noted that building the infrastructure to integrate Google’s billing system “requires a lot of time and effort” — currently, Bandcamp’s in-app solution is “fully integrated with PayPal.” But, as Epic admitted, Google announced the changes more than a year ago, and before Epic acquired Bandcamp. Epic appears to have known about the upcoming billing changes when it acquired the company.
It wouldn’t be out of place for Epic to lay the groundwork for legal pitfalls ahead of time. Epic’s own internal emails indicate that it was Fortnite Case: “[T]His goal is to get Google involved in a legal fight over antitrust,” Epic marketing director Haseeb Mailk wrote in a September 2019 email. program was rejected. The battle begins. It will be fun! ”
You can read two such emails here – look for items #35 and #38. You can read the full update embedded below.