I want to take the opportunity to give you an update on the PledgeMusic campaign and the new album (which will be done TODAY, btw). I always want to be transparent with my fans, especially when it comes to supporting my music, which is why it pains me to have to deliver this news.
Thanks to your love & generosity, I was able to have a successful campaign and was happy to use the indie crowdfunding platform PledgeMusic because many others that I look up to (George Benson, Wayne Shorter, Lalah Hathaway, etc) have used it.
PledgeMusic has since ceased operations and found itself in a financial situation (no escrow, embezzlement, bankruptcy) and has halted distribution of the funds they collected from the fans who supported artists using their platform.
To be very clear: I've only received a small portion of the money that was pledged. One of the main reasons this has been such a long journey is because I've been fronting the money for the album while waiting to be paid by PledgeMusic. Right now, the many artists who used PledgeMusic to raise funds for their projects are, like the fans who supported me, in limbo regarding the distribution of final payments or entire campaign funds. It seems that they owe artists somewhere between $2-6 million dollars.
I will continue to advocate for you in my ongoing discussions with PledgeMusic to seek a resolution to this situation. In the meantime, everyone that pledged to the campaign will receive their digital copy of the album on release day. Even though I’m not being compensated, I feel like it’s the least I can do for my fans. In terms of the other pledge items (physical CDs, t-shirts, etc), I will need to kindly ask for your patience as I work through this with PledgeMusic. I'm pretty certain that before I see resolve from them, I will more than likely have to continue to perform to raise funds to press CDs, etc. With no physical product, there's no release event, so that'll be on hold as well.
I’m so disappointed and upset by PledgeMusic’s behavior and I really hate to let you down. So many roadblocks have been presented and I will continue to climb over them.
You can find more information on the entire situation here. PledgeMusic’s Board Breaks Its Silence as Criminal Charges Loom
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