Roli Has Fallen Apart—and Left Customers Holding the Bag

Roli, a once innovative music tech company, has recently collapsed, leaving its customers in a difficult situation. Although it was not officially announced, the company reportedly dismissed its CEO and founder, Roland Lamb, earlier this year. Since then, Roli has largely dissolved, with a new company called Instrumental Intelligence registered under Lamb's name in August.

On October 20, Roli informed users that two licensed insolvency practitioners had been appointed as joint administrators, marking the company's second bankruptcy and its second dissolution. This has left a small but concerned community of customers with no information on how to retrieve their products. Users have expressed a range of emotions, from sadness and anger to confusion, on various online platforms.

Many have struggled to get refunds or responses for their orders, which range from hundreds to thousands of dollars. Since Roli's instruments heavily rely on proprietary software and apps, users fear that the lack of software support will eventually leave their gear inoperable. The company has not communicated its future strategy to customers, and neither have its primary financial backers, TriplePoint Capital and Hoxton Ventures.

Previous financial struggles have been a recurring theme for Roli, with the company experiencing its first bankruptcy in 2021 after receiving a bailout from the British government's Future Fund. Despite being hailed as a hit in the late 2010s, Roli's collapse has been attributed to its founder's narcissistic behavior and a lack of communication.

Former employees described the company culture as one revolving around Lamb's whims and criticized his abrasive and unapproachable nature. Nevertheless, Roli was once a pioneer in the MIDI polyphonic expression (MPE) technology, which allowed players to control a note's pitch and timbre through touch-based movements.