It’s another bad week for crowdfunding platform PledgeMusic, with more artists and managers complaining about delayed payments and a lack of communication from the company.
As Billboard reported, one band – ohGr – say they are owed nearly $100k eight months after their campaign ended. The article suggests a range of other artists are owed thousands or tens of thousands, and in many cases they need that money to produce the physical items that were promised to fans pledging for their campaigns.
PledgeMusic has issued a statement responding to the claims. It claims to have “cut its operating expenses nearly in half over the past year” and “overhauled key parts of our financial and operating systems”. It also said that it has been in talks with “several strategic players in the industry who have interest in the PledgeMusic platform” (e.g. investment / acquisitions) and plans to announce further details within 60 days, while adding that “it is our expectation that payments will be brought current within the next 90 days”.
Co-founder Benji Rogers, who is no longer involved on a day-to-day basis, has offered his support for PledgeMusic and for artists trying to get their money. While the immediate issue is getting that money paid, the longer-term problem for PledgeMusic will be the loss of trust from artists: winning them back will be a difficult challenge.
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