Dominic Pandiscia has resigned as CEO of troubled music crowdfunding and pre-sale platform PledgeMusic, a company spokesperson confirmed to Hypebot on Friday. He joined the startup in 2016 after serving at President of Capital Music Group’s Caroline independent music distribution service.
Pandiscia shared this week that he was restarting his Sunday Artists media consultancy. The PledgeMusic spokesperson told Hypebot that the executive had actually “resigned some time ago.”
In recent months, PledgeMusic has fallen behind on payments due artists and labels. In June, the company blamed rapid growth “combined with the payment processing changes.”
But late last month, several artists shared new stories of non-payment 45 days and more after their Pledge campaigns had finished. According to the standard PledgeMusic contract, “75% of goal, minus PM commission and any charity funds” are due as soon as a campaign is completed.
A source tells Hypebot that several major and large independent labels who ran pre-sale campaigns on PledgeMusic are also weeks behind in receiving large payments. They have not been more public about their payment problems, says the source, because of concerns that doing so would only encourage an exodus of artists that could spell the end of the popular crowdfunder.