[Editor Charlie sez: here’s the ponzi scheme evidence, if true]
6. A&R and Campaign Managers were only told to “launch launch launch” new campaigns so that payments could be distributed to other projects. They very well knew that they were unable to pay artists, but needed to launch new campaigns in order to gain more revenue. Employees knew that this was not ethical, but at the end of the day had no choice.
[Editor Charlie sez: Noise11 posts contact info for Official Receiver and reminds us who used Pledge.]
Artists that have used PledgeMusic include Weezer, Men At Work, Willie Nile, Culture Club, Sum 41, Erasure, Dweezil Zappa, Macy Gray, Ash, Echo & The Bunnymen and Rufus Wainwright.
Attorney and artist advocate Chris Castle received a confirmation via tweet that the Official Receiver was also tasked with determining “the cause of its failure.” Further, “if unacceptable conduct is identified she can seek to have the directors banned from running other companies for up to 15 years.” That’s not exactly the punishment that those affected had hoped for it wrongdoing is proven but also does not rule out further legal or government action against the PledgeMusic board and executives.
PledgeMusic founder Benji Rogers has responded to criticism of the crowdfunding company’s liquidation this week in London. That criticism was based on the fact that Pledge had filed papers for its wind-up hearing in June, at a point when artists were being led to believe a sale might still be possible for the company….
Meanwhile, people are digging back into PledgeMusic’s past financial results – this blog post on music blog My Emu is Emo for example – to explore how and when it all started to go wrong.
US websites Music Technology Policy and The Trichordist both tweeted the Official Receiver. The former pointed out that artists in multiple countries have likely been affected by the collapse of Pledge, many of whom won’t be able to make physical representations in the UK. The latter asked whether affected artists should be approaching the Crown Prosecution Service as well as the Official Receiver demanding some kind of criminal investigation.
Confirming its process and powers, the Official Receiver tweeted back: “Following the winding up of PledgeMusic, the Official Receiver has been appointed as liquidator and will now determine the cause of its failure. If unacceptable conduct is identified she can seek to have the directors banned from running other companies for up to fifteen years”.
Read the post on Complete Music Update
Artist Rights Watch--News for the Artist Rights Advocacy Community 