For the last few months, it has been widely known that SoundCloud has had its problems with copyright infringements issues, royalty payments to labels and artists and lack of funding. Now, another big-name music distributor is in some hot water, as Beatport is currently unable to pay its artists and labels.
The parent company to Beatport, SFX Entertainment, is going through a privatization process, with Robert Sillerman, the chairman of SFX, being the majority reason for the delay of payments. Morgan Geist revealed his displeasure on the lack of payments, stating:
“Beatport can’t seem to pay artists or labels on time right now.
Couldn’t seem to find the word “Sorry” in this email.”
He is talking about an email Beatport sent to him to clarify the delay of payments, as they state,
“Dear Morgan Geist,
Since inception over 10 years ago Beatport has paid almost $200,000,000 to its label partners. Beatport’s parent company, SFX, is currently involved in a ‘going private’ process that has trapped certain earned label payments. This process will be coming to an end in the next few weeks, at which time all payments will be able to be made. Beatport prides itself on being the broadest and original friend of the makers of electronic music and will clear this one time obstacle very shortly.
In the meantime, feel free to contact your label manager with any questions. Thank you for your patience and continued support.
– The Beatport Team”
Just like the emails states, payments are due to be sent to the artists within the next few weeks, but according to Music Business Worldwide, small indie labels are getting the short end of the stick due to the fact that payments should have gone through at the end of July.
Source: Mixmag
