SoundCloud To Let Fans Pay Artists Directly (billboard.com) 15
According to Billboard, SoundCloud is preparing to introduce a new payment system that would allow fans to pay artists directly. From the report: The move would make SoundCloud the first major music streaming service to embrace a direct payment model, a strategy that has been popular with Chinese streaming services like Tencent Music's QQ Music for years, and one that subscription services like Patreon and OnlyFans have built their businesses around, as musicians and fans around the world clamor for bigger digital music distributors to do the same. A source close to the company says SoundCloud is still exploring several alternative streaming payout models and will announce its plans before the end of the first quarter of 2021. SoundCloud declined to comment.
The new model will be a big shift for SoundCloud, which currently utilizes a "pro-rata" model, the same method used by all major streaming services, pooling subscriber revenue and doling out earnings to the artists who brought in the most streams, directing most of the revenue to the world's biggest acts. SoundCloud's 175 million monthly users now have the option to pay up to $10 a month for the company's on-demand streaming service SoundCloud Go+, but their payments aren't distributed to artists based on who they personally listen to, and they can't "tip" or steer their subscription fees toward their favorite acts.
The new model will be a big shift for SoundCloud, which currently utilizes a "pro-rata" model, the same method used by all major streaming services, pooling subscriber revenue and doling out earnings to the artists who brought in the most streams, directing most of the revenue to the world's biggest acts. SoundCloud's 175 million monthly users now have the option to pay up to $10 a month for the company's on-demand streaming service SoundCloud Go+, but their payments aren't distributed to artists based on who they personally listen to, and they can't "tip" or steer their subscription fees toward their favorite acts.
P2P (Pocket 2 Pocket). (Score:2)
According to Billboard, SoundCloud is preparing to introduce a new payment system that would allow fans to pay artists directly.
Whoo Hoo! No more "lost sales".
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As we move to the final stage [theoatmeal.com].
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Hold up... a user base of 1/10th of all people alive doesn't count a major?
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Re:700 million users doesn't count as major (Score:4, Interesting)
QQ is a Chinese product. It's like the recent poll that asked which messenger you used than conveniently ignored WeChat. So you literally asked what people use by ignoring the most used one... bravo.
I think there are a few reasons people have this naivety. First, all of the Chinese eco-system for apps is effectively a walled garden because of the GFW and consumer habits. If the Chinese app does go to market in the western world, it rebrands itself. An example of this which is TikTok having a US version and a Chinese version, the latter being Douyin. China's tax system is radically different too, so payment systems here have a radically different form where it's very easy to exchange digital funds. This is one of the reasons, a Chinese app would be first to market for this kind of feature.
So literally, most people who know about these apps have some connection or interaction with the Chinese mainland and this is why they have more awareness of them. This will slowly change, as I think more confrontations are being created which in turn bring awareness towards these products but often a prejudice too.
To say the least, westerners, especially Americans, have no idea how ignorant they are...
Re: 700 million users doesn't count as major (Score:2)
European here. Can confirm. ^^
But to their defense: They don't have a choice. I think even the Chinese have more paid leave days (was it three?) than the US (zero). (We got almost a month here.) ;)
And the country is big and had a dominant culture. So influences rather go out and little comes in. (A few mexicans and H1B workers... that are promptly hated.
And there really is almost no need for them to learn other languages. Everyone speaks English.
They simply don't have the opportunities to travel, or read fo
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To be fair, as an American, I've traveled a lot internally, which is practically the size of Europe. I've been to Mexico and I've been to Canada. I've lived in Florida and Michigan. Enjoyed Colorado, Montana, Washington and Alaska. I've driven from Florida to California and San Diego to Colorado back through Idaho, Utah, Nevada and back to San Diego.
I live in San Diego.
It's not really fair to say I haven't traveled when there is just so much to see in North America itself.
With that said, I want to go visit
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I traveled a lot of the US before I decided to try a new life in China. My traveling experiences are very similar with the exceptions that I lived a year in Ireland and I have been to Mexico.
We are not "average". Our experiences represent probably 5% of all Americans, if not much less.
China is huge too. Most average Chinese get to travel comparably as much as you mentioned and that's the average. More so many regions of China hold ethnic diversity that isn't comparable to virtually any part of America unles
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That was a really informative post. I also didn't mention or think of it but my wife is actually native american so my Montana experience was on the reservation. I definitely agree that most of the USA is pretty darn similar with regards to culture and as you said, we've both lived in the South.
I didn't realize what you mentioned about Pakistan and China, but that actually makes sense and even sheds some light on the India/China issues lately. Clearly India and Pakistan have zero love loss which puts India
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Thanks for the compliment. It's my hope to share more of my experiences from China with other Americans.
Montana seems great. I wish I could have spent more time there. There is a good show called Yellowstone which you might enjoy. Makes me wonder a lot more about the history and development of Yellowstone national park.
Yeah the interplay with Pakistan, India, and China is very interesting. A lot of the issues come back to having "buffer" which is a kin to the issues that have existed in Korea. India is inte
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Europeans have a huge advantage for traveling because the cultural diversity is so dense in Europe. America was mostly empty and what wasn't empty we made empty to fill it with ourselves...
Even if you want to learn new languages, again the casual usage of them is far less accessible because of a lack of diversity. Spanish is becoming more common as a second language and this is great.
Traveling in general expands our perspectives, so it's great but I think stimulating this in Americans is a mixed bag. It's a
Finally! (Score:2)
Yes. Let's save the actual artists! Let's kill the media industry! They are useless leeches on their necks, that lost their purpose, ever since the Internet made media production and distribution unnecessary, and were unwilling to die.
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SoundCloud seems to be the most focused on independent creators out of all the streaming services. (With the possible exception of YouTube, if you want to consider that music streaming.) It's hard to understate what a boon this will be to them. Now guys with a few hundred plays are going to have some of those fans dropping $5 or $10 in the hat instead of fractional pennies from playcounts that don't add up to anything until you get into the millions.