https://www.billboard.com/articles/busi ... regulation

It came up in another topic and I thought it deserved it's own thread. Lots of questions here. Were individuals at Pledge Music involved in some type of unethical behavior? Were they honest and desperately trying to run a business model that might just be unsustainable? Considering the problems with the music industry, is it realistic to think that music crowdfunding could be a profitable business, even if it was done right?

It looks like warnings to the public started popping up in June 2018 but really started getting wide-spread attention about 3 or 4 weeks ago. To me it sounds pretty bad, as in artists only receiving roughly 1/2 the payments that they were due (if that). At this point one would think that so many of the customers would be turned off that they would never do business again. I don't ever recall doing business with Pledge Music in the past and certainly don't intend on doing so now. How many customers has Pledge Music discouraged to the point where they won't want to use another "crowdfunding" site ever again?

The one aspect I have some interest in is the proliferation of bigger artists on Pledge Music. Hosting established artists seemed to run counter to what I envisioned a crowdfunding site to be about. Why the hell would Metallica put their product on a crowdfunding page? But they've had product on Pledge Music. What I would like to know is if the presence of big selling artists have helped or hurt this effort? Does the site need the Metallica's to generate traffic to keep the site afloat? Or do all these big artists involved require Pledge to add more bandwidth and staff, making it too "big" to be a true crowdfunding operation and in fact making them nothing more than a retailer...a retailer in a market where they have no chance to compete with the Amazon's and Super D's of the universe?

I suspect one of the reasons for the presence of bigger artists on Pledge was because it's become somewhat in vogue for there to be perks for fans that pre-order new albums, and I doubt that the mainstream companies really wanted to be part of anything that added to the expenses.

Hell, they're trying like hell to get out of the CD manufacturing business, why do they want to be involved in producing T-shirts, posters and all other manner of physical product?

These are the bands/ artists I've pledged to over the years:

Allan Holdsworth
Bad Dreams
Dweezil Zappa
Failure
Gary Numan
Marillion
New Order
OMD
Paul Gilbert
Randy McStine
Slash
Yes- The Drama Lineup

All have come through except maybe Allan's and that was more his fault as it turned out he was just not in the mood to create new music.

I had no problem with Pledge Music but them not paying the artists is a problem and it looks like they are cooked.
It was a fantastic idea that gave artists new life in a world where selling CDs is just not advantageous anymore (through a record company). Selling directly to the fan with perks was great.

The last artist I pledged to was Paul Gilbert, got his new CD and the perk was guitar picks!

Artists can and do sell the branded socks and autographed bath toys through their own websites.

It's one thing for small artists with no label to go directly to their listeners, but Pledge and Kickstarter are top-heavy with musicians who already have recording contracts. I can't think of a single artist I collect whose Pledge didn't end up in general release, and sometimes in a better configuration than what was being offered. The labels are thrilled to be able to offload recording costs onto fans and tell us that we're "supporting the artists". Why aren't the labels "supporting the artists" anymore?

I ordered an autographed copy of the Derek Smalls (Harry Shearer) album through them last year, and don't recall any delays.

The only other artist I've ordered from through PledgeMusic is Rebecca Black--I ordered an autographed CD-R copy of an EP she released digitally (along with the download itself). It's notable as the only physical music product she's ever released (to the best of my knowledge.) Yet although she once offered any number of other deals through that portal (ranging from an online makeup consultation to a live performance in your home) she's now apparently closed her whole account. (And yes, she's pretty active--she released a new single and video just last week.)

If PledgeMusic fell out of favor with Rebecca Black, it's likely doomed. The girl has a much better instinct for these internet media platforms than most of us.

It is a shame. One of my favorite artists is Dave Kerzner who uses Kickstarter to fund some of his projects. Hopefully that platform survives. Another very popular site is BandCamp.

I had no idea about this. A few minutes ago I followed a bookmark to their website and got:

"A winding up order was made against Pledgemusic.com Limited in the High Court of Justice on 31 July 2019.

As a result of the making of the order, the Official Receiver becomes liquidator of the company. Any enquiries should be forwarded to LondonB.OR@insolvency.gov.uk, quoting reference LQD5671373."

Yep. Lots of people apparently got burned with unfulfilled pre-orders. .

Me among them. I ordered the SACD expanded reissues of Matthew Sweet's Altered Beast and 100% Fun, for $30 apiece. I got the 100% Fun one, but Intervention Records cancelled their SACD line around the same time Pledge Music started having trouble, so I never got Altered Beast. Both companies pointed the finger at the other and I got nothing

Yes, that seemed to be of the major issues for both. Intervention is now liquidating it’s inventory.