Pledge Music Complaints from Artist Manager Ron Stone.
What started off as a great service
Ron says it himself: In an industry built on a business model of “raping and pillaging artists”, Pledge Music seemed different.
Pledge Music was fan based. It welcomed big acts and small, up and coming talent. It allowed artists to bypass the record companies completely.
What went wrong at PledgeMusic?
Either an idiot or a thief
Someone at Pledge Music made the decision to not keep the money owed to the artists separately. This according to Ron is required by law.
Ron doesn’t believe for a second this wasn’t deliberate.
“The business model created in the 1950s was to rape and pillage the artist,” Says Ron Stone. This is more of the same.
Pledge Music Complaints from Artist Manager
Ron and many others in the industry genuinely thought that Pledge Music would be different.
It offered what artists have longed for since the beginning: artistic and financial independence.
PedgeMusic would finally be a tool, a service that doesn’t screw the artist. “And guess what?” asks Ron. In the long line of music companies that robbed music artists and music fans, Pledge Music was one more.
Buyers not lining up
I hate to minimize the tragedy that this represents. So many artists worked to hard to raise money. Only to have PledgeMusic squander it away.
As a former independent performer, I am in awe of anyone that can raise 10, 20, 50 thousand dollars.
It’s hard to be an optimist. If Pledge Music can’t keep it together, who in their right mind would lend them money? Who would save the company?
It’s hard to see how anyone could step in to pay the artists what they are owed.
Pledge Music just bump in the road
The good news is, the cat is out of the bag.
Artists can and will continue to sell directly to the public. A contract with a major label is becoming more obsolete everyday.
While Pledge Music will likely go by the wayside, another service will replace it.
Musicians and artists can also use other Crowdfunding tools.
For now, my heart really goes out to those artists who were cheated by PledgeMusic. I hope Ron is right. The people who committed the theft will go to court and have to give up their houses and cars.
About Ron Stone
I worked for Ron Stone out of his Los Angeles office from 2012 to 2013.
I truly admire the man for his tenacity and his dedication to the music business. His longevity in this game says it all.
Ron really does have the artist’s interest at heart.
Ron, I hope you get to experience carbs again one day.
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