Benji Rogers?
Co-founder/CEO, PledgeMusic?
PledgeMusic.com?
@benjikrogers
??FULFILLING PLEDGES?
At PledgeMusic, CEO/co-founder Benji Rogers, 39, helps artists use digital technology to create financially rewarding direct-to-fan relationships. Launched in London as a crowd-funding website in 2009, PledgeMusic has evolved into a powerful multiterritory platform that helps propel fan-financed albums up U.S. and international charts. “Fans are proving to labels this is a viable route to success,” Rogers explains. A PledgeMusic campaign for U.K. metal act Bring Me the Horizon’s "Sempiternal" album (RCA Records) spurred the record to No. 1 in Australia, No. 3 in the United Kingdom and No. 11 in the United States. A similar deal with Universal Canada for rock band Headstones saw the fan-funded "Love + Fury" (Frostbyte Media) debut at No. 7 in Canada. PledgeMusic itself is also making gains. With the average spend per pledge at $57 in the United States and 39 Euros ($50) in Europe, the company’s 15% commission led to a 176% growth in revenue in the last 18 months, it reports. New offices in Germany, Australia and Asia will soon join existing ones in London, New York, Los Angeles and Boston.