Beatport payments to indie labels and artists in jeopardy

Beatport payments to indie labels and artists in jeopardy

Beatport payments to indie artists and labels could be in serious jeopardy of being paid. This information was shared from someone inside the company to Digital Music News, the website claims.

The report states that… “Beatport is now at ‘high risk’ for bilking on royalties to rights owners, particularly independent artists and labels.  The source, speaking under assurances of confidentiality, contacted DMN on Tuesday to offer a ‘warning to artists and other people’ who are ‘highly likely’ to lose owed royalties.”

This worrying news about the Beatport payments comes fresh on the heels of the online music store’s statement that all is ‘business as usual’ after their holding company SFX Entertainment filed for bankruptcy recently.

The source revealed (rather unsurprisingly I might add) that things aren’t all easy going over at Beatport since SFX Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.  As we reported before, SFX Entertainment will be absolved of $300 million in debt during a restructuring period. It’s this move that has made all of its subsidiaries feel uneasy.

“Beatport has to lift its hand up and say, ‘everything’s okay’ so people don’t freak out. But let’s be realistic, they have no idea how this is going to go down, even at the top.” You’re looking at a pretty bad mess, we really don’t know how the [bankruptcy] courts are going to handle this.  So all I’d say right now, is in this type of situation, there’s really no assurance that anyone’s going to getting paid.” revealed the source to Digital Music News

The issue with Beatport payments is also not a new one. Last year they issued a statement apologising to the smaller independent labels for withholding payments and claimed it was an administrative error. Everybody got paid eventually. This time around things are rather more ominous.

What was found is that payments to major labels ran uninterrupted, while payments to independent artists and smaller independent labels were withheld.

Beatport’s response to these allegations is that some of the payments went off before the freeze happened.

“While the majority of Beatport payments were delayed, some payments were made before the hold went into effect, and those included payments to major labels and some labels participating in the new Beatport streaming service. This was not preferential treatment in any way, but we understand how the optics may illustrate just the opposite.” Said Beatport