Google agrees to keep Bandcamp in the Play Store even if it doesn't adopt Google's in-app payment system; Epic will keep 10% of Bandcamp's IAP revenue in escrow
Murray Stassen / Music Business Worldwide :
Context & Ripple Effects
This is a direct concession in Epic's legal campaign against Google's store rules. After Google mandated in 2020 that all Play Store apps use its billing system following years of Netflix and Spotify bypassing the 30% cut, Epic bought Bandcamp in March 2022 and then asked a US court to bar Google from delisting the app if it refused to implement Google's in-app payments by June 1.
The agreement means Bandcamp stays distributed without adopting Play billing, but with strings attached: Epic must keep 10% of Bandcamp's in-app purchase revenue in escrow — effectively collateral while the dispute plays out. It matters because it shows Google carving out exemptions case-by-case rather than enforcing its policy uniformly.
First-order effects
- Bandcamp, which Epic acquired as a standalone marketplace that has paid nearly $1B to artists and labels, keeps full Play Store distribution without routing purchases through Google's billing system.
- Epic gains a concrete litigation win over Google but accepts an escrow obligation — 10% of Bandcamp's IAP revenue held back — as the price of the reprieve.
Second-order effects
- A negotiated exemption for one Epic-owned app weakens Google's uniform-billing stance and hands every large developer evidence that the policy bends under legal pressure, echoing the later revelation that Spotify pays no commission on its own payment system and only 4% via Google.
- Google's pattern of side deals — including the alleged ~$360M paid to keep Activision Blizzard from launching its own app store per court filings from Epic's lawsuit — suggests rivals will increasingly price in bespoke terms rather than the published 30% rate.
Third-order effects
- If exemptions accumulate faster than enforcement, Play Store economics drift from a fixed take rate toward individually negotiated commissions — a structure that anticipates the lower developer fees and Android app store program Google announced in 2026 to resolve Epic's antitrust litigation and comply with European rules.
The trend: App store gatekeeping is shifting from uniform mandatory billing toward negotiated, litigated take rates, with regulators and lawsuits forcing Google to trade exclusivity for compliance.