PledgeMusic Headed For Bankruptcy, Reportedly Owes Artists As Much as $3 Million

Direct-to-fan music platform PledgeMusic has now headed to bankruptcy. According to Brooklyn Vegan, Co-founder Benji Rogers issued a statement provided Variety. Rogers stated, “I am sad to report that this effort has not met with success and that PledgeMusic will shortly be heading into [bankruptcy].”

Rogers also issued a letter to artists involved with the platform, stating  “This was the last thing I wanted, and I am holding out hope of a decent recovery for all of you.” Artists on that roster include including Failure and Gary Numan. Failure had to tell fans to call their bank to get full refund from pre-ordering their latest album. Numan had to switch his album campaign to another service due to Pledgemusic’s late payments to artists. The company reportedly is estimated to owe artists between $1-3 million dollars in total.

Mike Edward, band member of Jesus Jones, had his suspicions when first joining the platform. In a series of Twitter posts, he tweets “Ever since they promised that we’d be repaid what they stole, within 90 days, I knew they were lying.”
He continues to say “It’s time for them to forcefully pursue Pledge, to ensure that criminal actions can not go unpunished, and that those responsible for malicious, damaging, and heartless fraud on a massive scale are never allowed to do it again.”