Same here. I wasn't even aware Bandcamp had articles! But I basically just navigate to specific labels/artists/albums, buy what I need and resync my local backup of my collection.

1. Half the company were laid off

2. Two editors were laid off

I doubt editors account for the majority of that half, even if every last one was laid off.

not everything, but their work definitely brought me to music i wouldn't have found otherwise

I didn’t read all of them, but occasionally when they touched on a subject of interest, I really appreciated them, and they helped me find new music by both known and unknown artist.

They were clearly written by someone knowledgable and who cared. That’s getting increasingly rare these days and that’s a shame.

that's not what happened. they're not streaminlining for the sake of streamlining.

SongTradr is in the business of B2B sync licensing. Bandcamp's in the business of selling music to fans.

SongTradr's probably throwing out the articles not because they didn't move sales to fans, but because SongTradr doesn't care about selling music to fans.

they're probably more interested in converting Bandcamp creators to a sync licensing business model.

I've never read a single bandcamp article. Did anyone actually read them, especially enough to justify their cost?

yes. your experience is your experience. it is not universal. Bandcamp was making money with those articles, both for itself and its creators, for many many years.