Music Crowdfunding Site PledgeMusic Falls Under Fire for Late Payments, Issues Statement

Direct-to-fan music platform PledgeMusic has come under fire for failing to pay funds to musicians who have raised money through the website over the past year. In a report by Colin Stutz for Billboard, multiple artists who have used PledgeMusic for their album and content campaigns have come forward with stories about money being held in limbo. In the case of ohGr, led by former Skinny Puppy members Nivek Ogre and Mark Walk, the band is owed almost $100,000, they claim. Meanwhile, ’90s rock outfit Fastball say they are owed over $21,000.

In response to the new report, PledgeMusic has issued a statement to Billboard. “We accept responsibility for the fact that we have been late on payments over the past year,” it reads. “PledgeMusic is working tirelessly on this issue, and we are asking our community for their continued support and patience.” The full statement reads:

PledgeMusic has always been committed to serving artist and fan communities. It was established by artists and was born of a need to change the way in which the traditional music industry operated. It was designed to help artists and their teams at every level, and we believe that PledgeMusic has become an essential part of the evolving landscape of the music industry.

That said, we deeply regret that recently we have not lived up to the high standards to which PledgeMusic has always held itself. We acknowledge that many artists have and continue to experience payment delays. These delays to artists are unacceptable—not only to them, but to us.

Since its beginning, PledgeMusic has successfully serviced over 45K artists from emerging acts to some of the biggest names in the industry. We've supported 60 Grammy-nominated artists and helped springboard 100s of unsigned bands to successful careers. Our efforts have assisted over 375 artists with chart position on the Billboard Top 200. Our platform has provided close to $100m of revenue to its artist community.

Mid 2017, new investors came into PledgeMusic with the goal of strengthening the company and improving the value proposition for artists and fans. After substantial investments in the business over the past 18 months, we believe we have made good progress to that end, but it hasn’t been enough. That said, the company has cut its operating expenses nearly in half over the past year. We've overhauled key parts of our financial and operating systems, while adding talent to our roster and making enhancements to the platform like our Vinyl Store, D2C artist store-fronting and our data analytics.

While the company has made progress, we still haven't reached our goals. PledgeMusic has been in discussions with several strategic players in the industry who have interest in the PledgeMusic platform. We are evaluating a number of transactions with those potential partners, and we plan to announce details of this in the next 60 days. It is our expectation that payments will be brought current within the next 90 days.

We accept responsibility for the fact that we have been late on payments over the past year. PledgeMusic is working tirelessly on this issue, and we are asking our community for their continued support and patience.

The situation surrounding PledgeMusic emerged last June, when Variety published a report detailing various artists’ concerns about the overdue payments. At the time, CEO Dominic Pandiscia stated, “With respect to payments, there have certainly been payment delays, but the company has always paid artists and should be completely caught up in the near future.” (Pandisica would step down months later in September 2018.)