PledgeMusic, the direct-to-fan marketplace that is headed into administration (the British equivalent of bankruptcy), today posted a note to artists and fans, offering the ability for artists to download their data from the platform.
A source tells Variety that more information will be coming once an administrator is named — when that happens, at some point in the coming weeks, artists can apply to become official creditors. That situation is referenced in today’s post:
“To the Artists and Fans of PledgeMusic,” the post reads. “As many of you know, PledgeMusic suspended operations a number of months ago. The company continues to work with outside counsel on the most appropriate next steps, and we will update you with those specifics as we get more information.
“For you artists, we have prepared a link for you to download your data from the platform here. Click “Download All” (Please note that due to volume these might be slower than usual to process.)
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“For you Pledgers, you can download your past releases archive from here.”
It is signed by the PledgeMusic Board.
Led by cofounder Benji Rogers — who left Pledge in 2016 when it was thriving, and returned early this year in an ultimately futile attempt to salvage it — the company was holding out hope that it might find a buyer until last week, when the primary candidate pulled out and administration became inevitable. Sources have told Variety that some questionable business decisions by the management team that succeeded Rogers caused the company to fall into financial peril, from which it never emerged.
Once the company goes into administration, its assets presumably will be sold off to the highest bidders, but it seems unlikely that there will be enough money to cover the entire amount owed to artists, which sources estimate is between $1 million and $3 million — in short, many artists probably never will receive the money that is owed to them. The assets were detailed in a leaked letter from a company that may be its administrator. Variety was the first to report the company’s legal troubles, and in subsequent articles detailed how artists of all stripes were being impacted.