Punters in the US who’ve bought online from any of the labels under the Beggars Group umbrella may have had their credit card details stolen.
The company – which owns or distributes indie labels 4AD, Matador, Rough Trade, True Panther, XL Recordings, Young Turks, and Beggars Arkive – has revealed that its US distributor’s online stores have been hacked, warning that customers’ confidential info may be compromised.
As Pitchfork reports, a letter sent by Beggars’ American distributor Matador Direct last week said that customers who placed orders through the websites for Matador Direct-distributed labels between April 28th, 2015 and May 4th, 2016 may have been the victims of a data breach, with credit card numbers among the potential info to be snapped up by hackers.
It’s not currently known how many accounts may or may not be affected, but anyone who’s purchased music from Beggars Group artists via Matador Direct – including Adele, Radiohead, Vampire Weekend, the xx, St. Vincent, Pavement, Interpol, Cat Power, Queens of the Stone Age, and more – during the aforementioned time period may be compromised.
A statement from Matador president and co-owner Patrick Amory reads:
“We quickly began an investigation and hired a third-party cybersecurity firm to assist us. Findings from the investigation show that if a customer attempted to or did place an order on one of the affected websites from April 28, 2016 to May 4, 2016, information associated with the order being placed, including the customer’s name, address, phone number, email address, payment card number, expiration date and security code (CVV), and account password for the website on which the customer placed an order, may have been obtained by an unauthorized third-party.”
As a security precaution, existing customer passwords have been changed, and will need to be reset before the accounts can be accessed again.
Aussie fans can rest easy, though. A representative from Beggars Group’s Aussie distributor – Remote Control Records – has told Music Feeds the issue only concerns customers in the US.
Anyone over there who has questions or concerns can contact Beggars Group’s dedicated call centre at (877) 218-0056, Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. EST.
