Epic is asking a court to stop Google from yanking Bandcamp off the Play Store

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

A motion for a preliminary injunction has been filed by Epic Games to stop the removal of the independent music store from the app store because of the threat of being taken off the store by Google.

According to a post from the co-founder and CEO of Bandcamp, the company was able to use its own billing system on the phone because of the rules exempting digital music from having to use the system.

The changes would have to be made on June 1st. Diamond says that Bandcamp would have to choose between passing on fees to customers, passing on fees to artists, running its business at a loss, or turning off sales in the app.

The switch to the billing system of Google would affect its ability to continue giving artists the majority of their revenues, since it would have to pay the company 10 percent.

The current payment system allows artists to be paid within 24 to 48 hours of a sale, but it doesn't allow developers to be paid until 15 to 45 days after.

It didn't work when another platform tried to pay creators against Apple. Fanhouse added a 50 percent surcharge to cover the Apple tax. It could be that the courts are where the fight against Apple and Google will be fought. In August 2020, the company sued Apple and Google for antitrust violations, after the platforms kicked off their stores when the company introduced its own in-app payment mechanism to the game. The case will not go to trial until at least 2023.

In today's filing, the company says that it is changing its policies under the guise of a clarification. In this case, the discount was 10 percent rather than 30.

It would take a lot of time and effort to integrate the billing system of Google. When it purchased the company, it seems likely that it knew about the upcoming billing changes.

It wouldn't be out of character for Epic to lay the groundwork for a legal trap in advance. The goal of the case was to draw in a legal battle over anti-trust. The battle begins. It's going to be fun!

Look for items #35 and #38 in the emails. The full motion can be read below.