Dean Wareham on the Bandbox debacle

Dean has just posted some words on Luna’s Facebook page about the Bandbox situation.

hey a note today for those of you who ordered the live Luna albums, on color vinyl, direct from Bandbox, and did not receive them. . you have likely heard that Bandbox have filed for bankruptcy, without shipping vinyl to thousands of customers who had paid for LPs by Luna and other artists like Elliot Smith, OkGo, Kurt Vile, Rufus Wainwright, and Barbie.

U.S.-based customers who ordered Live Bewitched and Live Penthouse did get those records, but Live Rendezvous was never shipped. And for international customers, who had ordered a bundle of all three albums, I know some of you have received nothing at all, beyond a promise that all three would ship together.

Just so you know, we have been pestering Bandbox about the shipping status for months. In December they told us that Rendezvous was delayed due to a problem sourcing the brown vinyl pellets (I have since learned this was not true). In January they assured me that the color vinyl had been pressed, and was on its way to their fulfillment warehouse (this was half true). Since February, repeated emails to the head of the company have gone unanswered. A couple weeks ago Bandbox sent an email to purchasers, stating that they were now working with a new fulfillment company and that LPs would be going out soon. And then finally last week, they emailed one last statement that some of you received directly: To Whom It May Concern: Bandbox is filing an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors. They are doing this in order to allow a court supervised process to liquidate the company's assets and distribute the proceeds according to priorities established in law. . . thanks for the memories.

We find this last part pretty galling! But we have not given up; we have learned that the unshipped LPs are sitting in a couple of different places, some at Bandbox's own warehouse and others still at the pressing plant. We are in touch with the company who pressed the vinyl, and they too would like to find a way to get the records to those who ordered them. Technically some of the LPs are now under the control of the receiver company – Lighthouse. We are going to try to find a way to get those LPs, and a list of all unshipped orders, but there is a legal process while the receivers examine who is still owed money by Bandbox.

We will keep you posted on this. If you paid by credit card, it can't hurt to ask your credit card company for a refund, but I know it may be too late.

If you ordered the records and would like to get hi-res downloads for now, send us a note here, and we can at least get you those links.

Again, we're very sorry for this whole mess!

Sincerely,

Dean & the Luna band

Dean Wareham - Facebook