Late last year, after a heavy release schedule of great albums, Shogun Distribution quietly disappeared, it seems they declared bankruptcy. Over the past few months, all of their catalogue has disappeared from iTunes and most are unable to be ordered from stores that don’t already have stock; It seems as far as some record stores are concerned, Shogun just doesn’t exist anymore. Some artists have got new distribution deals and their stuff is leaking back through digital distribution channels again, others are left stranded, money blown.
I purchased pretty much EVERY cd from the 2009 Shogun release catalogue and most of 2008, on the faith that by doing so i was supporting the artist and ensuring that things I enjoyed listening to would continue to exist. However it seems that perhaps my support in some cases hasn’t be passed onto the artists and I want to know why, as i’m sure many others do. Yes bankruptcy kind of absolves company owners of having to personally foot the bill for failed ventures, but morally this is off the chart.
As a fan i feel what happened here needs to be opened up and put in public, as a website owner and writer, i feel i’m in a position to help people do this. So i’m putting it out there now, if anyone wants to discuss this with me to set the record to the public, theres a contact link at the top of this page. We don’t have to mention names, let’s just open this thing up, artists got screwed for their hard work and that’s not cool, call it out for what it is, don’t hide behind a false hope of getting your money .
The fans, the people who really support hip hop, are wondering why all that good music just disappeared and no ones saying a thing.