UK Music Industry Unites To Support PledgeMusic Victims, While U.S. Remains Silent

UK music trade organisations have come together to support UK musicians and businesses effected by the demise of crowdfunding and direct-to-fan platform PledgeMusic. But in the US, the music industry and trade groups have remained largely silent.

To assess the damage left in the wake of PledgeMusic, a coalition of UK music groups has launched survey of effected musicians and businesses hosted by the Musician’s Union .

The coalition includes UK Music, Music Managers Forum, Musicians’ Union, PRS Foundation and International Showcase Fund partners, the Association of Independent Music, Help Musicians UK, including British Underground, PRS Members’ Fund, the Music Producers Guild, The Ivor’s Academy, Featured Artists Coalition, Music Support and BPI.

The survey results will help the group understand the extent of the fallout from PledgeMusic’s collapse, and how best to support artists and businesses in need. In a statement, the collective said:

"‘The failure of PledgeMusic to appropriately ring-fence artist and fan money has the potential to damage artists’ careers and their relationships with fans and fellow creators if they can’t deliver on stalled campaigns.

Individually, each of our organisations have been working hard to support our members during this difficult time. However, in order to consider collective action we have launched an industry-wide survey to assess the impact of the PledgeMusic closure."

The deadline to complete the survey is midday June 25th. Access it here.

U.S. Silence

While musicians and individuals have been quick to condemn PledgeMusic, U.S. music industry trade groups have been largely silent. The RIAA, Recording Academy, NMPA and other trade groups representing the traditional music industry have failed to issue statements.

The Musicians Union has been leading the charge in the UK, but its US equivalent, American Federation of Musicians, has been totally silent. Other trade groups serving musicians and the indie music sector including the musicFIRST Coalition, A2IM and AIMP have thus far failed to offer support or publicly demand an investigation. 

Some are speaking out. 

"Many artists are already talking about a class action lawsuit," said artist Jemal Wade Hines of HuDost. "Obviously we cannot sue the company because it no longer exists, but there are individuals involved who are indeed crooks who spent and stole our money.

"This yet is another reminder that as an industry, we need to do much better by the musicians we’re trying to help,” said Dave Cool of Bandzoogle, who launched a commission-free alternative to PledgeMusic this week.