PledgeMusic Puts Bands Like The Plott Hounds In Bad Predicament
The Plott Hounds had it all planned out. The Anoka, Minnesota-based country and roots rock band would be releasing their latest album Damn The Wind on March 19th with the help of a PledgeMusic pre-order campaign that would help fund the release, and hopefully give the band a big national boost. They understood the importance of what many in the music industry call the “album release cycle” where you try to create buzz and anticipation for your music, so even if you’re just a local or regional band, hopefully you can make a national impact by doing it right. Like many crowdfunding campaigns, there were tiered incentives for donating, from downloads and CDs, to personal house concerts.
“When we first came across PledgeMusic it looked like the perfect platform,” says Noah Alexander, lead vocalist and guitarist of the Plott Hounds. “It existed in the space between us and fans all over the world. It gave us a platform to draw attention to the creation of our new record. It gave us the platform to connect with our fans and invite them to be a part of the process. It also worked, and we smoked our goal and hit ‘full funding’ and we were off to the races. We had a specific financial goal in mind. We only aimed to raise the funds necessary to cover the exact costs of our production teams and merchandise teams. So we moved forward, finished the record, sent it out to the printing and merch team.”
Then like so many bands in country music and beyond, they ran into problems with the crowdfunding service.
“When we hit our full funding, PledgeMusic (per their payment terms) should have deposited 60% of our funds directly into our account,” explains Noah Alexander. “Their policy is such that 60% is given at full funding and the remaining funds are deposited once all orders become fulfilled. On paper, a tremendous plan as it provides a value of security for the ‘pledger’ knowing that they will actually get what the paid for. When we did not receive the funds we began to get worried. It started with cryptic messages from PledgeMusic staff stating that payments were being delayed anywhere between a few weeks to multiple months. We starting digging around in the news and found bands in similar situations.”
Launching in 2009 as a crowdfunding source similar to Kickstarter, PledgeMusic has paid out $100 million in artist payments distributed among 50,000 projects since its inception. However starting in the summer of 2018, artists began to complain about slow payments from the company amid a management overhaul, spooking some bands and fans from using the service. Now payments have been suspended, and beginning last week, all campaigns on the site have been frozen. Very little information from the company has been disseminated, leaving many bands and fans in limbo.
In late January, PledgeMusic co-founder Benji Rogers announced that he would be returning to the company on a short-term basis to help with the crisis. PledgeMusic has said it plans to bring in a third-party company to manage all artist funds going forward, which is how Kickstarter and Indiegogo already offer through the third-party company Stripe. However any reorganization has yet to result in any sending of past due payments, or re-institution of campaigns. A week ago the company asked for “patience” amid acquisition talks with other companies.
“We struggled internally with the right thing to do,” Noah Alexander says. “Wait it out, hope they get their back end sorted? Risk our fans funds and a project not being delivered? Our ultimate decision was based upon conversations we had with Sr. financial members at PledgeMusic who continued to state to us that no timeline could be given on when funds would be delivered … We posted communication outlining that course of action and told all of our supporters to dispute the charges with their financial institution and to submit a refund request via PledgeMusic. Our ultimate fear is that the company will declare bankruptcy which would eliminate all course of action for our fans to get their funds returned.”
The Plott Hounds have set up their own “re-order” campaign through their website in hopes of getting back on track after the PledgeMusic debacle.
“The situation this has put us in is dire for a band like us that operates on such tiny margins,” says Noah Alexander. “We have now had to max our credit cards and have sold off essentially any non essential piece of gear—guitar amps, guitars, anything that we don’t need in the short term.”
“This is not an attempt to pity the Plott Hounds,” Alexander says. “I really just think it is important to get this story out to protect other bands who may be looking at PledgeMusic as a platform. There are other bands where the money owed is in the 100 of thousands of dollars … Long live country music and the fans that breathe air into the creators, and a big middle finger to PledgeMusic who stole from Peter to pay Paul with no regard to the fans or the musicians.”
February 13, 2019 @ 8:27 am
Such a shame. I’ve purchased through PledgeMusic twice (Sean McConnell and Jamie Lin Wilson) and never had an issue, but I’ve read a couple of things from other artists (though I can’t recall who) that they’d experienced issues with them. I hope they get their act together because when it’s been run correctly, it’s really a great platform for artists to fund their projects, but this is now at least the second or third time I’ve read of artists experiencing issues and this one is apparently so widespread that it’s shut their operations down entirely.
Glad to see that the band is being proactive to help ensure that their fans don’t end up screwed over by the company’s mismanagement.
February 13, 2019 @ 8:52 am
I’m really sorry to hear this because as cobra said above, when it’s run correctly, is a good platform. I’ve heard a few stories of glitches and issues, but nothing like this. I hope they get it together.
February 13, 2019 @ 9:12 am
Willie offered the signed bundles on PledgeMusic for “God’s Problem Child” and I passed, regretted it, and then last year jumped when he did the same for “Last Man Standing” – and they were $50 cheaper and now that I think back, on a different, label based site – wonder if they had issues.
February 13, 2019 @ 9:14 am
Took us a long time to get the JLW CD and tee shirt, but they did come.
I will say, the incentives are not why we usually do it. It’s just to help them get their records made.
We have a ton of tee shirts and posters and, honestly, I don’t really need the CD because a) there is usually also a download, b) if I need it I go to Spotify.
February 13, 2019 @ 9:22 am
I, too, can only second what the previous posters have been saying. I have used Pledgemusic before and was totally happy. Up until now that is.
Early last year i pledged for a new record by Swervedriver. That record has since been released. My buddy bought his copy already in a “normal” store… while I’m still waiting for my vinyl to arrive even though I paid mine months ago already… (the download is here, basically it’s an annoying inconvenience and a first world problem if there ever was one – it’s a lot worse for the bands who are depending on the money owed)
So Pledgemusic’s founder left and it all went downhill from there? I do hope they get the company back on track. It seemed like a decent and fair business model for bands.
But may those responsible who drove the business into this position, apparently making stupid decisions and disregarding the artists, receive their just karma.
February 13, 2019 @ 10:08 am
Lawyers will wind up with all the money- a sad state of affairs.
February 13, 2019 @ 11:37 am
I’m not sure why bands are still using them. These problems aren’t new. They’re better off going through Kickstarter whom have never had problems.
February 13, 2019 @ 8:04 pm
Trig, PledgeMusic also screwed over MMHMM, the Nashville based duo of Raelyn Nelson and Hannah Fairlight. They have had to front a lot of the expenses personally and they’ve commented on Facebook Live how this has negatively impacted them. A real shame and I am mad as a person who thought my money was going to the artist instead saw PledgeMusic use my money for their M&A and stole the money meant for paying the artists. That is a crime.
February 14, 2019 @ 9:08 am
Same thing happened to me as well as hundreds of others, if not thousands. Max out the credit cards to get the album done, to ship the albums, to pay the dues for recording an album. I hope there is some sort of class action but like someone said above, the lawyers will end up with all the money. blech… not cool. Glad someone is covering this though, good article.
February 14, 2019 @ 9:49 am
What is MMHMM?
February 15, 2019 @ 7:38 am
Trigger, thanks for bringing this out to the forefront. For the readers, if you are interested, you can check out the video link below which features a new track from the album. If it makes you move or feel anything and you are able, we sure would appreciate any support from a pre-order perspective. Cheers to you all – The Plott Hounds
Music Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2MlE3xPtHA
Pre-Order: http://www.theplotthounds.com/store
February 16, 2019 @ 11:32 am
From a fellow Minnesotan, I wish you all the best. So sorry you got screwed over by PledgeMusic. Great song, by the way!
February 24, 2019 @ 8:18 pm
Wow, I’m amazed I’ve never heard of these guys, I grew up in Anoka and live just across the river now. Definitely going to check them out now though.