Michael Angelakos, known also as electropop artist Passion Pit, claims he has not been paid for the GoodVybes Festival held in Manila last year. The allegations came as a reply to Manila Concert Scene’s Twitter account, which had posted a photo to remind fans of the festival a year before.

 

@Manilaconcerts @goodvybesfest welp, i still haven't been paid. however, that crowd was amazing. love you, manila.

— Passion Pit (@passionpit) February 20, 2017

 

Fans quickly took notice of the tweet and sent Michael messages of support, hoping that the incident would not hinder him from coming back to Manila in the future.

Speaking to Bandwagon Philippines, Nico Bacani of Vybe Productions claimed that they had already paid the artist’s agency. The GoodVybes official Twitter account made a similar statement.  

 

We would like to clarify we have paid the talent fees & airfare for @passionpit & that if ther r any pending, we would be glad to resolve

— GoodVybes Fest (@goodvybesfest) February 20, 2017

 

Michael, in a series of tweets, said that he had a lot of respect for people who run festivals, but responded to Vybe Productions by saying that he was being vague “for a good reason.”

 

i mean, ppl who made the "statement" can explain themselves to my team. i don't need to make a statement defending myself. i already have.

— Passion Pit (@passionpit) February 20, 2017

for their sake, i will not go and explain the whole situation. i was being vague for a good reason -- almost being too kind, actually.

— Passion Pit (@passionpit) February 20, 2017

 

Michael then shared some little known facts about the music industry. One of the most surprising ones of them all was that artists don’t make much money off of records. Instead, it’s touring and merch that earn more than record sales.

 

i'm assuming most of the world has little to no knowledge as to how many artists, w/ contracts and everything, don't get paid from shows.

— Passion Pit (@passionpit) February 20, 2017

everyone says "hey, keep it cool, we're working on it." so artists don't say anything. they want to get paid. what happens when they don't?

— Passion Pit (@passionpit) February 20, 2017

nothing. you can sue, but for what? there's no money. from the biggest artists to the smallest. no money from records, TOUR/pub/merch = $

— Passion Pit (@passionpit) February 20, 2017

this is not complicated. this is painfully obvious. it's 2017. the industry is the same as it was in 20's. music industry seem insane? it is

— Passion Pit (@passionpit) February 20, 2017

 

GoodVybes soon posted a full statement, which alleges that there was a disputed amount but that GoodVybes has paid for 12.8M pesos, or 86 percent of the total.

Ph 12.8M paid for @passionpit talent fees and airfare @Manilaconcerts pls see statement: pic.twitter.com/62htLHwz0v

— GoodVybes Fest (@goodvybesfest) February 21, 2017

 

@goodvybesfest @Manilaconcerts i'd really like to not write a full release, so why don't you just chill.

— Passion Pit (@passionpit) February 21, 2017

@goodvybesfest @Manilaconcerts dude. stop.

— Passion Pit (@passionpit) February 21, 2017

so keep digging yourself deeper, im going to finish work and get to bed. how this is being handled pretty much explains it all. there you go

— Passion Pit (@passionpit) February 21, 2017

 

 

Despite it all, Michael still seems hopeful for what’s to come for artists in the future.

artists are powerful, they're taught the opposite. this is going to be an interesting few years. support artists and watch what happens.

— Passion Pit (@passionpit) February 20, 2017

 

Besides the Twitter brouhaha, Passion Pit has so far released six new tracks in the span of a week and looks to be gearing up for a full album release some time this year.

Listen to his latest track, “You Have the Right,” below: