Indie Filmmakers Waiting on Major Payments from iTunes and Amazon As Distribber Faces Financial Woes
Distribber, a service that acts as a middleman between independent filmmakers and streaming platforms, has tapped a firm that specializes in bankruptcy reorganization as clients say they’re owed thousands in royalty payments they worry they might never see.
Aggregators like Distribber receive filmmakers’ work and, for a fee, will encode and post it on multiple platforms for streaming, rental, or purchase, then collect the revenue and cut the checks. In theory, anyway.
In December, director Todd Jenkins used the service to send his horror comedy “Cherokee Creek” to iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, and Google Play. He went on to collect about $2,150 for the few days that remained in the final quarter of 2018. But he hasn’t received a dime for 2019 sales, he said.
Distribber, which recently stopped accepting new orders, kept its users abreast of sales though an online dashboard — they have no access to direct information from the sales platforms.
Aggregators like Distribber receive filmmakers’ work and, for a fee, will encode and post it on multiple platforms for streaming, rental, or purchase, then collect the revenue and cut the checks. In theory, anyway.
In December, director Todd Jenkins used the service to send his horror comedy “Cherokee Creek” to iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, and Google Play. He went on to collect about $2,150 for the few days that remained in the final quarter of 2018. But he hasn’t received a dime for 2019 sales, he said.
Distribber, which recently stopped accepting new orders, kept its users abreast of sales though an online dashboard — they have no access to direct information from the sales platforms.
- 10/5/2019
- by Chris Lindahl
- Indiewire
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