PledgeMusic Sale Appears To Be Another Empty Promise
Last week, we reported that some artists affected by the demise of PledgeMusic became hopeful they would be made whole after receiving emails touting "negotiations the board is having with a potential buyer." It now appears that is was just the latest in a series of empty promises from the crowdfunder.
PledgeMusic suspended all crowdfunding campaigns on its site on February 4th, leaving hundreds of musicians owed between between $1 and $3 million.
Now, Hypebot has learned from multiple sources that as early as March 8th, artists were being sent emails promising a deal within days with a new partner who would infuse cash into PledgeMusic.
After sing last week's piece Boots Factor, the manager of The Whiskey Treaty Roadshow, emailed to say, "That quote is their direct cookie cutter answer when an artist asks WTF is going on. I should know, I manage a band that is owed 15k and has not been given a cent."
Factor also shared this email received back on on March 8th that appears to have been sent by the same PledgeMusic representative that hinted at a resolution last week.
"The latest with Pledge is that the board is working to sign an agreement with a partner within the next 7 days. This is for a transaction that will provide the liquidity necessary to make the payments that PledgeMusic owes. While the signing of a definitive agreement should happen shortly, it is likely that funding of the transaction will not happen for 60 days. Once it is funded, Pledge will make the payments that are owed."
"The band and myself are trying to remain painfully optimistic," Factor wrote back. :We are currently going into savings accounts. I fronted some money in November to pay off people who worked on the record and now it's April. My wife and I are talking about sending my daughters to camp for the summer and how we're going to pay for it. That's what really hurts me. Are they acutely aware of how this is effecting the artists and managers who believe in their music so much that they're willing to lay it all down on the line. "
The whole thing was a scam. Artists would be better off setting up their own PayPal account and asking for donations from fans to help fund their projects. Let’s be real, Pledgemusic wasn’t exactly killing it in the promotion and advertising department. What were they REALLY providing artists? Nothing . Just a pipe dream.
Couldn’t agree more. I think for the demographic of my fan base, they trust me and they’d rather not sign up for another outsider funding page they have no other contact with. I’ll stick with funding my own thank you.
Really! There hasn’t been one single artist affiliated with Pledgemusic who has achieved impressive commercial success. Most of the albums disappear into pop culture vapor. It doesn’t matter if they’re great or suck.
You’re a clueless twat my man…Ever heard of U2? There are a ton of artists, including major record labels, that used Pledge and that got screwed. And are you saying that only those at the level of Beyonce are worthy listening? Who are you anyway? Do you make music? Or do you just suck in general?
Correct
Any success U2 has is not due to Pledgemusic.
NEWS UPDATE
On 4/19 a co-founder of NoiseTrade (which was acquired and now wholly owned by PledgeMusic) tweeted:
“Benji told me by text there is in fact a buyer going through due diligence. I trust him that that is taking place.”
https://twitter.com/brannonmc/status/1119351036400033792
So you don;t think that PledgeMusic provided a toolkit and service that was useful to artists? I know many who think it did.
So sad that music pledge ended up this way. As a music fan I LOVED buying things on there and it was so great for the artists. Or would have been if it was legit. Is there any replacement crowd funding marketplace?