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Embattled Mustang publishing company closes

By Traci Chapman

What looked like a fork in the road turned out to be the end of it for Mustang’s Tate Publishing this week, as it closed its doors for the last time.

Tate Publishing closed its doors in Mustang.

Tate Publishing closed its doors in Mustang.

The news came Wednesday, just days after Tate co-founders Dr. Richard Tate and Rita Tate announced a consolidation of the company’s operations – the shutdown of its Philippines office and layoff of 50 employees there and a new focus on the company’s home base in Oklahoma.

Tate’s Mustang office employed about 30 people as of Monday, Rita Tate said then.

Questions surfaced about possible problems at the publishing firm over the last several weeks, with several individuals identifying themselves as Tate authors posting complaints on a variety of blogs, business review sites and social media. Still others contacted the Mustang Times, asking for assistance in communicating with Tate, which they said they could not reach by phone or email.

That changed for at least some authors in recent days, with an email supposedly sent to them by someone at Tate.

“I’ve been trying to contact Tate and the only email I got was a cryptic one about there not being any employees left due to lack of payment,” one of those individuals said.

Both Dr. and Rita Tate acknowledged that communication, saying it was a hoax sent by one of the Philippines former employees, who had access to the company’s author files and contact information.

Tate Publishing opened about 17 years ago in Mustang and was a long-time major employer in the city. The company has been very active in the community, particularly Mustang Chamber of Commerce, where Rita Tate served as chamber president.

On Thursday, Chamber Executive Director Renee Peerman stated via email Tate resigned from the board Jan. 12.

Tate Publishing and Enterprises was registered with the Oklahoma Secretary of State in December 2003, according to the OKSoS website. At one time, the company listed more than 200 employees working in and around Mustang at Tate Publishing and Tate Music Group offices.

In May 2016, Xerox Corporation filed a $2.2 million lawsuit against Tate Publishing and Ryan Tate – seeking $1.756 from the company and $483,787 personally against the then-company CEO. Xerox also requested the return of seven pieces of its equipment it alleged Tate had not paid for or sent back. The lawsuit is still pending and is set for a Jan. 20 non-jury trial in Canadian County
District Court.

One of Tate family members’ primary concerns during the planned restructuring, and hen as they faced the closure of their company, remained the company’s approximately 35,000 authors, they said.
Work to help those authors make other arrangements was already underway and would continue as Tate worked with its attorneys to complete the closure process.

8 Comments

  1. Anthony Pauline on January 20, 2017 at 3:29 pm

    Well This Sucks Can Any one tell me how to retrieve my Masters???? and all they said was there is a transition.- Anthony Pauline (Forgive Me Lord)

    • Michael Di Rienzo on January 27, 2017 at 10:05 am

      If you visit the website there is a form for published artists and if you want the files, it costs $50 per song

    • Koat Of Armor on February 15, 2017 at 1:57 pm

      Last week we filed with the Better Business Bureau and the Attorney General’s office of Oklahoma!

  2. Sally Nitz on January 21, 2017 at 9:35 am

    I was a Tate author. I had a positive experience with my first book, although I suspected they cheated me out of some of my royalties, but I could not prove it. But, I’ve had nothing but trouble and delays with the production of my second book due to the ineptitude of Tate’s Layout Department, which made over 200 mistakes in laying out my manuscript that I had to correct. They finally got it right, and I approved the file on 11/30/16 and ordered 100 books for a book signing that had already been re-scheduled twice. I never received my books. Tate took my order knowing they had no intention of printing the books.

    Tate had the gall to represent themselves as a Christian organization. I hope they burn in Hell!

  3. Ladene Hayes on February 14, 2017 at 5:47 pm

    i have nothing bad to say about tate publishing. i hate that this has happened. i am truly saddened by this because they were the only company that accepted my manuscripts and made me a 2x published author. they kept and delivered their promises to me to the very end…and then the crap hit the fan. my favorite contacts were all gone. no return calls. no return emails. and then the phone calls weren’t even being accepted. all this happened AFTER i placed an order for 40 of my 1st book for a book signing. then i noticed a strange withdrawal from my account. i called tate but couldn’t get through, so i disputed it and got it back. then i didn’t get any books so i disputed the original payment and got it back. so now i’ve pd the $50 for my pdfs and praying to get them by mid March. i’m done w/tate publishing. the experience has left me w/a hole in my heart for this company and all those involved. i’ve lost money b4 but God has taken care of me and He will get me through more. my book has been selected for a stage play production and movie executives are asking my producer about doing a movie. i thank tate publishing for the notoriety but now i have to get somebody to print my books since it’s a continuing series. my dream of becoming a published author back in 2006 became a reality thanks to tate publishing and my dream to have a movie done will become a reality and i give all the thanks to God who has been in control from the very beginning. Matt 7:7 and Phil 4:13. have a blessed day people.

  4. Ken Middler Soul Journey on April 26, 2017 at 11:31 pm

    How do i get my royalties as my music is still on iTunes etc…

    • Michael Di Rienzo on July 6, 2017 at 4:51 pm

      Contact the orchard who handled online distriburion

  5. Michael Di Rienzo on July 6, 2017 at 5:11 pm

    THE ORCHARD handles online distribution. They have an agreement with Tate. You will have to inform them to remove the online listings of the songs that were produced by T.M.G. since tmg never paid me anything i informed The Orchard to remove everything.

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