17/04/2025
We would like to draw your attention to this fundraising campaign, which relates to a longstanding issue that has affected Urbanomic and numerous other small publishers like us.
Some readers may remember us posting about this many many years ago, the same thing is still going on, many many small companies and individuals have come forward with similar stories...and we need to stop it.
Please read, share, and donate if you are able.
https://whydonate.com/en/fundraising/stop-exploitation-of-small-publishers-artists-and-employees
*Stop the Exploitation of Small Publishers, Artists, and Employees
*Who are we?
We are a group of small publishers, artists, and employees seeking funding for legal proceedings to determine whether the practices of a certain bookstore and distribution operation are lawful, in view of the similarly negative experiences of ourselves and others over a period of more than 15 years.
*What is this about?
Since its founding in 2008, a well known European bookstore and distribution operation has on numerous occasions failed to make payment to small publishers, artists, designers, and zine makers who placed their trust in the company to sell and distribute their publications. Staff who have worked for the company report that they have suffered non-payment of wages, abusive working conditions, and personal attacks when they challenged this situation.
According to these reports, an apparently deliberate misrepresentation of services offered, systematic non-payment, and stalling tactics have affected many already financially precarious businesses and individuals. Allegedly, the damage sustained from these practices is not just monetary but also mental, with the financial fraud often accompanied by psychological pressure, leading some to simply resign themselves to never receiving payment for their goods.
The company’s staff say they have often been left to bear the brunt of complaints from dissatisfied publishers while the owner hides in the backroom, playing off his victims against one another. Meanwhile, despite protestations that they cannot afford to pay staff for their work or clients for their goods (most recently blaming Covid), the company has recently opened a new store, where they continue to hire new staff to sell what these allegations suggest are effectively stolen goods.
*What are we doing?
We believe that if this toxic pattern of behaviour does indeed exist, it cannot be allowed to continue. Over the past few years individuals and companies from across the world have come together to share accounts of these practices. As well as raising awareness and gaining mainstream press coverage on the story, an Instagram campaign has prompted yet more individuals and companies to come forward, exposing the scale of the problem.
We are now in a position to assemble the necessary weight of evidence to bring a legal case, the intention of which will be to determine, with detailed corroborative testimonies from many parties, whether the company has perpetrated deliberate and systematic fraud accompanied by a pattern of dishonest and manipulative behaviour.
*How can you help?
It is important not just for those directly concerned, but for the fragile ecosystem of small publishers, artists, and activists in the publishing field, that this case is legally examined. If, as is alleged, it amounts to deliberate financial exploitation of the work of others, it is ultimately harmful for anyone involved in the broader field of non-mainstream arts publishing.
We have come together and volunteered time and energy to organise and to compile evidence. Legal action is expensive, and we are therefore raising funds in order to prepare the case and make sure it is brought to court in the most effective way possible. We are also aware that the company has access to considerable funds and legal means, as evidenced in their ability to ‘disappear’ Google reviews of their stores testifying to their practices. We appreciate any help you are able to give in order to support our bid to examine this allegedly long-standing bad actor from the cultural field.
