UK music trade organisations have come together to support UK musicians and businesses effected by the demise of crowdfunding and direct-to-fan platform PledgeMusic. But in the US, the music industry and trade groups have remained largely silent. To assess the damage left in the wake of PledgeMusic, a coalition of…
Category archives: PledgeMusic
This Week In Music Commentary
This week in music commentary, the industry gave voice to concerns that PledgeMusic was lining their own pockets, what it takes to build a music empire, a paradigm shift in how fandoms are monetized and more. Was PledgeMusic Lining Their Own Pockets? A Brief Inquiry Into Building Music Empires With…
TOP POSTS: This Week’s Most Read Posts On Hypebot
This week, some of the most popular articles from Hypebot warned against the number one mistake artists make when pitching music, revealed some surprising stats about the current music industry, looked at some of streaming most successful artists, and more! Top Playlist Curator Shares #1 Mistake That Artists Make Pitching…
Was PledgeMusic Lining Their Own Pockets?
In this latest chapter in the saga of the still-smoldering wreckage that is PledgeMusic, Mario Putzar examines some of the underlying causes that led up to the platform’s current state of crisis, many of them eerily similar to another music direct-to-fan platform (now also defunct), Sellaband. ____________________________ Op-ed by Mario…
This Week In Music Commentary
This week in music commentary, Maggie Rogers, Billie Eilish, and Travis Scott with in on the abortion rights battle, PledgeMusic’s board issues, a statement, and David Lowery explains why the disgraced crowdfunding platform is even weirder than previously thought. PledgeMusic Fiasco Is Even Weirder Than You Think – Part 1…
PledgeMusic Fiasco Is Even Weirder Than You Think – Part 1 [David Lowery]
Few failures have had a more direct impact on the indie music community than the recent demise of PledgeMusic, not only for those owed millions of dollars, but also for the many others who had come to rely on the platform for pre-sales and fundraising. In recent days, a variety…
5 Crowdfunding Myths Exposed
While many artists view crowdfunding as their ticket to music industry success, recent events like the PledgeMusic train wreck may have them second guessing the concept. That said, crowdfunding can still be effective if you know what you’re doing. Here, we look at the truth behind five commonly believed crowdfunding…
The Day Hattie Webb Broke Into The PledgeMusic Office
PledgeMusic owes independent artist Hattie Webb $6876. She’s not alone. Hundreds of artists are owed thousands, even hundreds of thousands of dollars. But Hattie did something we’re not aware of any other artist doing. When she learned that the crowdfunder was in financial trouble, she stormed their London office and…
PledgeMusic Board Issues Statement
For one of the first times since suspending all crowdfunding campaigns on February 3rd, PledgeMusic has issued a short official update. In recent weeks, most communications from the crowdfunder have come unofficially from co-founder and former CEO Benji Rogers. Rogers, who had exited the company more than a year ago,…
TOP POSTS: This Week’s Most Read Posts On Hypebot
This week’s most popular and often read articles on Hypebot covered the sixty-four pop/indie playlists worth pitching to and how to reach them, why PledgeMusic is starting to sound like a broken record, the best way to make sure your content doesn’t get rejected, and more! 64 Pop, Indie Spotify…