PledgeMusic Leaving More Artists Unpaid

As the gloomy saga of PledgeMusic's financial failings drags on, more artists are revealing that that the now infamous crowdfunding site failed to provide them with payment. Here we look at some specific numbers from a variety of artists.

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Guest post by Bobby Owsinski of Music 3.0

Recently I posted about a group called Fastball having a difficult time collecting from the crowdfunding site Pledge Music. There appears to be many more that fall into that category as artists from Queensryche to Blacktop Mojo have since posted apologies on their social media pages because of Pledge Music-related payment and delivery issues.

Variety even had a number of artists contact them with specific numbers as to how much they’re owed. They are:

David Archuleta: $22,000

Seth Walker: $21,257

Emily Kinney: $21,000

Bernie Torme: £16,000 

Fastball: $11,130.75 

Jennifer Thomas: “just under $11,000”

Jesus Jones: “more than $5k, less than 10,” says rep Iain

Charlie Faye: $5,538

Seth Walker: “We’re owed $19,157″

The group L7 wouldn’t comment on the exact amount owed, but did release this statement:

“L7 is still owed a major amount of their Campaign funds by Pledge Music. They’re unable to complete and fulfill the Campaign without it. By law, Pledge is to keep all of this money in trust and on account for L7, and in separate accounts for each artist. We’ve issued a formal demand to Pledge Music for an accounting and the release of all monies due L7, so far with no reply. We still expect Pledge to follow through on their legal and ethical obligations to both L7 and the fans, and to stop evading the question on everyone’s mind, still unanswered in their spin and many public statements, ‘Where did the money go?’”

This is a sad story that’s looks like it’s going to get worse unfortunately. It’s difficult enough to be an artist to begin with, and crowdfunding is no walk in the park either, so when a large vendor like Pledge Music doesn’t deliver it’s a double blow.

First of all, it’s tough because the money may already be spent and vendor commitments made, but more importantly because of the resulting trust issues with the fans thanks to promises that were not kept. As an artist, you can make all the excuses that want, and some fans will understand, but many won’t. It will be difficult to regain their trust in the future.