SINGAPORE - When local blogger Ang Chiew Ting agreed to work with creative agency GetCraft to create content for a beverage brand in July 2022, she did not know that the Indonesia-headquartered company had not been paying some influencers for their work.
The 36-year-old, who is better known by her online moniker Bong Qiuqiu, told The Straits Times: "When my assistant was in talks with GetCraft for this project, we were not aware that many content creators were owed money, some as far as back as 2021."
After a few revisions, she posted her deliverables on Instagram in October 2022.
Her team then sent GetCraft an invoice, but did not hear from the agency.
"We started chasing them for payment only from January this year," Ms Ang said, adding that GetCraft often took very long to respond to her queries.
To date, she still has not received the four-figure payment for her work.
GetCraft positions itself as a "premium creative directory" that connects companies with vetted content creators and media providers for their marketing needs.
According to Crunchbase, which provides business information about private and public companies, GetCraft was founded in Jakarta in 2014.
In 2016, it was incorporated in Singapore with a registered address at Frasers Tower, according to Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority records. Its global Instagram account was last updated in 2021.
In August, Ms Ang's plight came to light when she responded to an Instagram post by Ms Chrysan Lee, another affected influencer with more than 100,000 followers.
On Aug 17, Ms Lee posted a video in which she detailed her frustrations with an agency that had ghosted her and failed to pay her.
She did not name the company initially out of legal concerns, but many other influencers soon called out GetCraft as the agency in question in their comments.
Speaking to ST, Ms Lee said she was surprised to learn that many other content creators and creative agencies in Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines are in the same predicament.
The 27-year-old said she started working with GetCraft on various projects in 2021, for which she was paid even though the payments were not always on time.
The problem started in September 2022, when the company stopped processing her invoices.
"Throughout the process of me chasing for updates, I was passed from one employee to another because it seemed they were all busy leaving the company," she said.
Ms Lee added that one of GetCraft's co-founders also blocked her on WhatsApp.
"As representatives of both the clients and creators, it is very irresponsible and completely unprofessional of GetCraft to abuse the trust we had in them by delaying and withholding payments, let alone ignoring the creators completely without providing any form of explanation," said Ms Lee.
A former employee of GetCraft who spoke to ST on condition of anonymity said that based on his estimates, the company owed content creators from Malaysia and Singapore at least a six-figure sum.
GetCraft's British chief executive Patrick Searle, who is also a majority shareholder, told ST that his company had paused operations in Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines after a third-party investor with a controlling ownership stake in GetCraft "ran into financial issues onshoring their money into Singapore".
But he emphasised that the investors have made clear to him that "they would honour and complete the investment".
They also "guaranteed they will complete the final transfer of money by late September 2023 - something which we will instantly use to pay all the creators we owe money to", he added.
"Given the ongoing uncertainty at the beginning of the second quarter of 2023, we decided to pause our operations… which in turn has led to worsening (and) missed communications with these creators regarding the updated payment timeline - something that I deeply apologise for and am trying to fix as we speak," he said.
One affected production house is exploring legal action against GetCraft.
"Money woes started in early 2022," said Blackbird Productions director Keshav Sishta.
He said his company was first engaged by GetCraft in 2019 to create videos, animations and photography for the latter's clients. Blackbird would pay the technical crew first before billing GetCraft for their work.
Mr Sishta added that his company has not been paid for several projects since 2022, and is owed between $8,000 and $10,000.
In response to ST queries, lawyer Amolat Singh said the affected parties can consider suing GetCraft in Singapore, or filing a claim at the Small Claims Tribunal, which has a claim limit of $20,000.
But he said the legal option may not be ideal, as "it is like throwing good money after bad money".
"The unpaid parties would still have to consider if the company has assets in Singapore to satisfy their claims and to realise the fruits of the judgment," said Mr Singh.
Ms Lee, the influencer who took to social media to expose the case, said content creators like her cannot do much other than being persistent in chasing for payment.
"Even if it is possible to take legal action against such agencies, it is unlikely for an independent creator to go through a legal process without suffering a financial loss," she said.
Others, like Ms Ang, "who felt very taken advantage of", have learnt to protect themselves after this episode.
Now, she asks for an upfront payment - at least 50 per cent of the agreed compensation - before she starts working on any projects.
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This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
