Details emerge about the demise of music production school Dubspot
Frivolous spending on African art and employee debts left unpaid
Last May, the global music school Dubspot - an institute focused on teaching DJ and production skills - came under fire for scamming the students who had paid for its courses.
A new feature article on FACT has revealed some further insight regarding the collapse of the production school, which ceased operations earlier this year following the scandal.
Interviewing Dubspot's former students, employees and CEO Dan Giove, the exposé unravels a tale of unruly business practices, personal misconduct, misplaced funds and empty promises which led to the demise of music academy.
Between a lack of planning for the school’s West Coast expansion as well as the irrational appropriation of funds for the school’s new space in Los Angeles, mistrust grew within the company. Tales include the CEO Giove sporadically firing his staff and leading the company into disarray and extravagant spending on decor rather than the school's expansion costs, including a $50,000 African mask.
Amongst former Dubspot affiliates that were interviewed, many admit that due to Dubspot’s negligence, they are still owed money to this day. Some former employees admit that they were paid with gear when the organization was short on funds, encouraged to sell the equipment in order to make the money they were owed.
In earlier reports, a chain of emails from students who first reported that classes they paid for would be sporadically rescheduled or be cancelled due to a lack of instructors helped break the story. For some students, several who had enrolled in the midst of the company's downfall have been fighting and even taking Dan Giove to court in order to get their money back for classes that never took place. The news of the mismanagement and money owed dismantled Dubspot's reputation as a international leader in music production courses, prompting Giove to step down as CEO.
The article concludes with a brief mention about Dan Giove's struggle with mental health, which is said to have also played a major role in the downfall of the company. He mentions depression, anxiety and "all kinds of other things" which contributed to his "absent" business methods. “The worst part of it all was not being able to pay the students, teachers and creditors the money they were owed,” the former CEO explained.
[Via: FACT]