D.I.Y.

Ex-PledgeMusic CEO Benji Rogers Pens Letter Of Apology As Crowdfunder Files For Bankruptcy

image from pbs.twimg.comPledgeMusic co-founder and former CEO Benji Rogers penned an open letter after it was announced that the troubled crowdfunder would be filling for bankruptcy. "I went back into PledgeMusic just over three months ago as a volunteer to try and help the board and team turn around and sell the company," said Rogers, "but I am sad to report that this effort has not met with success and that PledgeMusic will shortly be heading into administration."

[MORE: PledgeMusic To Enter Administration As Sale Falls Through]

Benji Rogers' full letter

To all of those affected by the situation at PledgeMusic, I wanted to share an update to my last posts.

I went back into PledgeMusic just over three months ago as a volunteer to try and help the board and team turn around and sell the company, but I am sad to report that this effort has not met with success and that PledgeMusic will shortly be heading into administration.

I cannot begin to appreciate how all of you affected artists are feeling about this and I am deeply sorry for what you have been through.

I ask all of the fans to please understand the awful and near impossible situation that this has put the artists that you love and supported in, and as such I ask you to bear with them as they do their best to make any obligations to you right.

I am also sorry for all of the labels, fulfillment companies and other vendors affected.

I feel for all the PledgeMusic team members who did their very best to resolve these issues and have been badly let down while enduring broken promises and physical threats that they did not deserve.

There have been no good outcomes here and I cannot bear that something that I created to benefit artists and fans has caused so much pain to so many people.

I was CEO of PledgeMusic twice, and even though I left for the last time in 2017, I still always felt connected to the company and to the mission. I wanted to be a part of the efforts to get things back on track but it is obvious now that too much damage had already been done.

I have seen recent media articles criticizing the business model of crowdfunding and I feel that these are unfair. A failure in execution does not mean that the model is fundamentally flawed. I still believe that there is a great future for fan-funded projects in this industry and I hope that someone builds a new version of, or resurrects what we started. I would gladly help in this effort.

I would have given anything to have been able to fix Pledge. I thank my former team at DotBC and my current team at Lark42 for giving me the time to work on this and I thank all of you artists, managers, lawyers, labels and investors for bearing with my less than satisfactory answers to your absolutely valid questions.

If you are an artist that Pledge worked with please make sure that you download your data from the platform here.

If you are a fan please make sure that you download your past releases archive from here.

Once again, I am truly sorry that it has come to this.

Benj

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8 Comments

  1. Where’s the money, Benji? Where is the money that PledgeMusic collected on behalf of artists, and did not remit to them? What did you spend it on?

  2. Benji is part of the problem. He should be taking responsibility not issuing meaningless apologies.
    Cough up the money you baseball cap wearing crook.

  3. Yeah that’s my question, Jim. Whoever it is, they probably know they’d face embezzlement charges so I’m sure they’re hiding….

  4. The arrogance of this “apology”. I mean, he’s ripped us off and he’s acting like it’s not about our money. Newsflash Benji boy: nobody cares about your feelings!

  5. TRASH.
    I can’t believe people literally spent all month or two months working with them…
    Imagine being in shit’s creek with no soap…this is it guys. This is a shitty for fans and musicians.
    Kicksarter or indie gogo wouldn’t do this to us!!! I have done it with them twice / three times!!

  6. Fuck you, Benji! The Last Internationale raised $35k and were only given $10k to mix the album. They had to pay for vinyl, albums, and merch out of pocket. Then they had to buy it all over out of pocket bc your shitty company wouldn’t fulfill orders or return the product. There was little to no communication with the band. You’re a greedy piece of shit! You better hope the band doesn’t run into you in the future. SCUM!!

  7. Contact him if you need urgent help to get your Ex Lover back, it’s guaranteed that he will help you. Email him Robinsonbuckler@ hotmail. com…………….. ????????????

  8. his twitter says he is a frequent flyer… so I guess the money was spent on jetsetting his narcissistic self, while happily wagging his tale with a smiley grin on the profile picture that says…. oh, look i am such a nice guy…

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