[UPDATED] When an Influencer gets angry, things can go wrong.

Karan Joshi, Founder, We are Mumbai posted a status on his Facebook account stating a delay in payments for over 7 months for an influencer marketing activity, executed for reputed Mumbai based agency.

His post is rather an angry one.

Influencers are constantly roped in to promote brand activities and delay in payments are very frequent. According to the email exchanges that are in possession of Social Samosa, the agency began the payment conversation in February 2015 and the back and forth email exchanges reflect an ambiguous intent.

In an eco-system that need influencers, bloggers and such individuals to come forth for brand marketing, is it right or necessary to pull them into vendor registration forms and other complicated formalities that delay payments by 7 months?

We tried to get in touch with the agency but have not heard from them yet.

These influencers spend time building a loyal following over a period of time and this takes hard work. When this following is utilized for marketing purposes, it is unhealthy to overshadow these individuals.

Unfortunately, many such ad hoc events take place everyday and due to the sheer unorganized nature of the digital industry, these individuals are fighting at many levels.

Another subtle tweet was sent out by another influencer this morning.

A vicious cycle?

The issue of non-payment also needs to be addressed among brands who fail to pay their agencies and create this vicious circle in the first place. This bad practice in the industry needs some serious attention.

On Twitter, a few days back, this tweet received over 140 retweets and according to our sources, the agency received a reply the moment the tweet began going viral.

UPDATE: The agency however cleared the payment after the matter was discussed on social media.

What are your thoughts on this?