Update: Beatport has said “trapped” royalties will be paid to labels very soon, and have offered an apology to labels and artists affected.

SFX Entertainment CEO Robert F.X. Sillerman offered the following statement:

I regret that unrelated elements made Beatport delay some payments for the first and only time in its more than 10 year history. The way we handled this was inexcusable and should never have happened. The thousands of creators who have made Beatport what it is today deserved better, and I am deeply embarrassed, both personally and professionally, by what has happened. Some payments were made before the hold went into effect, and those included payments to major labels and some labels participating in the new Beatport streaming service. This was not preferential treatment in any way, but we understand how the optics may illustrate just the opposite.”

In a cruel twist, Music Week is reporting that “trapped” royalties owed to labels by Beatport have been paid to the major labels but not independents.

It was revealed earlier this week that royalties from the last quarter are “trapped” due to Beatport’s parent company SFX restructuring back to private ownership.

Thankfully, it’s not all bad news for hard-up labels and artists, digital publishing outfit EPM music will be advancing fees to their labels in the meantime until SFX restructures to a private company again.

“As a digital distributor, publisher and fellow underground dance music label we understand only too well of the reliance on these payments to keep everyone’s label running where cashflow is often tight. Whilst we advance these payments to our label partners, Beatport remains a key sales platform for everyone in the dance music community and we look forward to them being back on track in the very near future,” said Jonas Stone, Director of PR & Promotions at EPM.