Journalist and musician Tim Pool announced Tuesday that he had his music yanked from online audio distribution platform Bandcamp without any explanation.
Pool told The Post Millennial three of his songs were pulled from Bandcamp, and he’s yet to receive an explanation. The journalist floated the idea of a class action lawsuit from fans who paid for his music and no longer have access to it on the platform.
“Hey look our [Bandcamp] account is still gone and they’ve never responded as to why,” Pool said Tuesday via Twitter.
hey look our @bandcamp account is still gone and they've never responded as to whyhttps://t.co/VeCaZ6uc7e
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) March 7, 2023
The music platform has also apparently leveled a ban on Five Times August, a band featuring singer/songwriter Brad Skistimas. An account for Five Times August on Wednesday suggested the ban could be political.
“Having a really hard time figuring out why [Band Camp] would target and delete Five Times August’s and [Timcast]‘s pages and why their support manager wouldn’t be getting back to us…,” the account sarcastically posted along with a screenshot of a LinkedIn profile indicating the platform’s support manager uses “they/them” pronouns as well as a picture.
Having a really hard time figuring out why @Bandcamp would target and delete Five Times August's and @Timcast's pages and why their support manager wouldn't be getting back to us… pic.twitter.com/F8Bn4lcW1W
— Five Times August (@FiveTimesAugust) March 8, 2023
“Oh wow okay so it really is #bannedcamp isn’t it [Band Camp]?” the account later posted, captioning an image revealing the company blocked the Five Times August Twitter account.
And by “equitably” @Bandcamp means they’ll delete your page without warning and then block you if you ask them why. pic.twitter.com/Zcbpx9HPSk
— Five Times August (@FiveTimesAugust) March 8, 2023
The Daily Wire reached out to Bandcamp for explanation on both bans, but did not immediately receive a response.
Pool reacted on Thursday to the Five Times August ban, writing, “maybe we should crowd fund a class action between all our fans who can no longer access the music they paid for.”
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maybe we should crowd fund a class action between all our fans who can no longer access the music they paid for https://t.co/x9C7p0Z1eC
— Tim Pool (@Timcast) March 9, 2023
“This is the part that pisses me off,” Five Times August responded. “If [Bandcamp] wants to delete artist pages and music on a whim because they’re butt hurt little wimps that’s fine, but to remove access from anyone who already purchased the music is theft.”
This is the part that pisses me off. If @bandcamp wants to delete artist pages and music on a whim because they’re butt hurt little wimps that’s fine, but to remove access from anyone who already purchased the music is theft. https://t.co/WtTjzVXCnv
— Five Times August (@FiveTimesAugust) March 9, 2023
Five Times August seems to have caught the ban in February, similarly without explanation. “I had been on the site about ten years,” the band told The Post Millennial. “My entire catalogue of music and my artist page scrubbed. I re-registered to claim my artist page again but have only put back one album for now. I wrote them about it, haven’t heard anything and from what I understand no other artists who this happened to have ever heard back either.”
“No idea what happened but after ten years on Bandcamp they removed my entire catalogue of music and signed me out as if I never existed. I just signed up again to reclaim my page. Silent War is available for now as a test but if they remove it again we’ll know why,” The band wrote back in February, adding, “I just re-registered. Had to start my account all over and reclaim my page again. Really strange.”
No idea what happened but after ten years on Bandcamp they removed my entire catalogue of music and signed me out as if I never existed. I just signed up again to reclaim my page. Silent War is available for now as a test but if they remove https://t.co/GPbI3aaGvJ… https://t.co/wHZyUgiwy6 pic.twitter.com/RVSW0OmJdi
— Five Times August (@FiveTimesAugust) February 20, 2023
Related: Tim Pool Dives Into Hot Button Issues With His New Podcast, ‘The Culture War’