Mark Powell says CD sales and downloads represent about 10% of his small ensemble's income.
April Baer / OPB
Independent labels and musicians have been left in the lurch as Portland-based Allegro Media Group restructures its business. The company distributes music and videos for a wide variety of publishers, from pop to kids music to classical. It's going through an out-of-court liquidation, winding down all of its business except for one unit handling specialty music and children's books.
Mark Powell is the executive director of Cappella Romana, a classical vocal group that worked with Allegro for years. He says Allegro owes the ensemble $15,000 in back sales. The group is now unable to reclaim the CDs in Allegro's possession. And the company was also handling its digital downloads.
"Everything is still up right now, if you went on Amazon or iTunes you'd find all our recordings and you could purchase them," Powell said. "And theoretically the money will flow back to the holding company now, and we won't see it."
A consultant directing Allegro's restructuring says secured creditors (generally larger entities with bigger fiscal claims) will be first in line to receive any revenue from the liquidation.
Labels will be in a position where they will have to buy their own CDs back from Allegro.
"If that's their intent," consultant Ed Hostmann says, "we'll be happy to talk to them about that. Unfortunately the way the laws are written, a secured creditor has the right to sell those items."
The company's statement says changing market conditions in distribution over the last decade posed challenges to their business model.