Yesterday evening I had a call with my contacts at Amazon and a person from the Accounts Payable department. Over the last two days they were able to work out the kinks in their accounting with regard to the MetaBrainz Foundation.
They verified that the outstanding invoices from our perspective were correct, including the now infamous invoice #144. Shortly after the call, a check for $22,500 was cut and will arrive in California by 10:30am today. I’ve also received a complete history of all of the payments made to the MetaBrainz Foundation and I’m happy to say that everything looks great to me.
Also, an issue surrounding this invoice was pointed out to me: If invoice #144 wasn’t outstanding, all of this would’ve been a bit drastic. I agree with that, but what I failed to mention in my last blog post was that if invoice #144 wasn’t paid, then invoice #200 (which is 3 months younger than #144) was outstanding. The matter at hand was that there was a 3 year, or a nearly 3 year, old invoice outstanding. Personally, I really wanted to gain clarity around what happened nearly 3 years ago and finally put the issue to bed.
Finally, I would like to commend Amazon on how they handled matters in the last week. When prodded hard enough, Amazon got their act together, got to work and figured out this mess and then swiftly cut a check. I’ll keep posting updates about this until the check is in the bank and has cleared, but it certainly looks like we’re heading to a complete resolution of this matter early next week.
Thanks Amazon!
MetaBrainz Blog 
How suprised will you write another cake blog entry, if Amazon “is not amused” about this publicity at all and stops a future working relationship?
If I would work @ Amazon, I’m not sure if this kind of public pressure would be a good base for future contracts.
(Of course: outstanding invoices have to be paid. Writing public blogs about outstanding invoices seems a bit strange for me. Maybe this is one of the differences between Europe and America?)
What do you think?
InvisibleMan78: I had a conversation with Amazon yesterday and there seem to be no hard feelings and our relationship is going to continue. And, these updates are intended to give Amazon credit for handling this situation well. In fact, they efforts in the last week are saving face for them and I want to give them credit for handling it well. There will be at least one more cake update to make it clear that the situation is fully resolved.
@InvisibleMan78
> If I would work @ Amazon, I’m not sure if this kind of public pressure would be a good base for future contracts.
What the hell?
If you were a business and a well-known PROFITABLE company refused to pay you for a contract that accounts for 10% of your YEARLY REVENUE, for three years? Most businesses would be suing their ass off and demanding interests and damages on top of the original billed amount. You might be out of business by now, because many businesses operate on profit margins slimmer than 10%.
The fact that MetaBrainz is a non-profit doesn’t mean Amazon can simply avoid paying. MusicBrainz has been INCREDIBLY graceful in handling this matter, plenty of benefit of doubt was given, even though the $20k is worth less now than it was back then, due to inflation and lost opportunity.
(And yes, I’m from Europe)