On Friday June 7th, US Country Music sweetheart and adopted Brit Sarah Darling will release her breathtaking new album ‘Wonderland‘. The project is a 13-track record that will take listeners on a journey through its gorgeous crossover, Nashville meets London sonic style making for a timeless LP.
However, the project has not been plain sailing for Iowa native thanks to the collapse of crowdunding website Pledge Music. Fans had pre-ordered through the site late last year with the CD slated for a March 2019 release, but with the website now in administration it means that the release date was pushed back to June and also left fans and Darling out of pocket with Pledge failing to fulfil orders or refund orders.
This means that Sarah Darling and her team will now be covering the costs of the record out of their own pockets and orders of the physical and download of ‘Wonderland’ will be fulfilled by the Nashville based singer/songwriter despite Pledge Music’s closure.
Today, the vocal superstar shared a statement via her email newsletter saying:
“Dear Pledge Fans,
My new album WONDERLAND has become a reality and is nearing the June 7 release!
As you know, the PledgeMusic situation has been such a disappointment and breach of trust for both artist and fans. Earlier this year when PledgeMusic suspended operations, I realized that I needed to do whatever possible to deliver the Wonderland album to you, even if that meant personally incurring costs.
For those of you who pre-ordered a download or CD of Wonderland, I intend to fulfill those orders out of my own funds:
– For download pre-orders, we will email you a link to download the album on June 7.
– For CD pre-orders, we will mail a CD to the address on your PledgeMusic order.
If you pre-ordered any of the other items, my team is still exploring what we are able to do. I sincerely apologize that I do not have a more comprehensive solution to share as of today.
As of today, I have no further update on whether the administration process for PledgeMusic will yield any refunds to fans like you who prepaid for items that PledgeMusic is failing to deliver”.
Fans have also been invited to donate via a Go Fund Me page set up by the ‘Call Me’ hitmaker in order for Darling to cover some of the costs she will now encounter for shipping the CDs to listeners across the globe.
Sarah states on the fundraising page “If you are feeling inspired to help to defray my costs of delivering the CD or download to you, please make a donation to this GoFundMe. I set the goal number to the amount that PledgeMusic raised from pre-orders. I am certainly not expecting to reach this goal, although it seems symbolically appropriate to use that number”.
If you would like to donate towards the ‘Wonderland’ LP head over to Sarah’s Go Fund Me page!
Have you been affected by the Pledge Music collapse? Let us know over on Twitter @CelebMix.