Crowdfunding platform PledgeMusic says that it’s in discussions with “several interested parties” over a potential acquisition or partnership.
The company issued its latest statement today (February 1), after admitting responsibility last week for late payments to “many artists” over the past year.
Last Thursday (January 24), Pledge owned up to the problem, while stating that its “expectation” was for all outstanding debts with artists to be settled within the next 90 days.
At the time, the manager of a well-known US indie rock band told MBW that the PledgeMusic’s late-payment fiasco was becoming, in his opinion, “the Fyre Fest of crowdfunding – seriously”.
Today, in its new statement, Pledge’s tone is apologetic, but perhaps more hopeful.
The company says that it is “in discussions with several interested parties about a potential partnership with, or acquisition of, PledgeMusic”.
It didn’t supply further details of these conversations, but commented that, if a successful deal is reached, it would “lead to a transaction which would allow us to meet all of our outstanding obligations”.
Pledge says it is also in advanced discussions with an independent third-party company to manage all artist funds going forward.
You can read today’s full statement below:
To the PledgeMusic community,
The situation that PledgeMusic has found itself in is unacceptable and to all of the artists, managers, labels and fans who have put their trust in us, we are deeply sorry.
All of us at the company are working around the clock to address everybody’s concerns and are hopeful of reaching a positive resolution soon .
To you artists especially, we understand that every last penny is vital to your project’s successful delivery and as such we wanted to share with you some of the concrete action that we have undertaken to date:
Firstly , PledgeMusic is a unique platform with millions of active users and we strongly believe that, notwithstanding our recent problems, PledgeMusic has very significant value.
We are in discussions with several interested parties about a potential partnership with, or acquisition of, PledgeMusic. These conversations , if successful, would lead to a transaction which would allow us to meet all of our outstanding obligations. As a result, we are hopeful that, as long as the company is given some breathing space to operate, a solution to these current problems will be found.
“We are in discussions with several interested parties about a potential partnership with, or acquisition of, PledgeMusic. These conversations , if successful, would lead to a transaction which would allow us to meet all of our outstanding obligations. As a result, we are hopeful that, as long as the company is given some breathing space to operate, a solution to these current problems will be found.”
We cannot reveal further details of these conversations at present as we are bound by commercial sensitivities but as soon as we have any news we will release it.
Secondly , PledgeMusic is in advanced discussions with an independent third-party company to manage all artist funds going forward.
Finally, as previously announced, co-founder Benji Rogers has returned to the company as a volunteer strategic advisor and observer to the board of directors. Benji will assist and advise the new management and finance team on the inherited and existing issues, as well as with the forward planning for the company. His statement is here.
Benji remains as full time Chief Strategy Officer of DotBlockchain Media.
In closing, the board and management team’s priority remains settling any and all back payments that are owed.
We ask for patience. We know that for a lot of you this must be wearing very thin, but we can only reiterate that we are fully focused on making this situation right.
Sincerely and with thanks,
The PledgeMusic Board and Management.Music Business Worldwide
