After coming under an immense amount of fire for extremely aggressive restrictions, SoundCloud has altered the verbiage of their Premiere monetization contract. Last month, the streaming company announced its seemingly exciting new self-monetization program for unsigned artists, following Spotify’s lead; however, artists quickly realized that the initial terms spelled bad news for them.
The initial contract required a $100 minimum revenue prior to payout, though the time span artists had to accumulate this minimum was unspecified. SoundCloud had also failed to specify how frequently artists could expect to be paid. The most discomforting element of the contract was a clause that specified that artists could not partake in any legal action against the company.
Spotify’s most recent statement situates these requirements as vestigial clauses from the beta contract, clarifying that payment will be received within 45 days of the end of a calendar month and that there is no minimum revenue requirement. While these are certainly improvements to the contract, the potential waiting period for payment remains rather long and nebulous.
So far, there hasn’t been any word on how the first version of the contract has affected the program’s success. One thing’s for sure – the program’s initial contract has the potential to jeopardize SoundCloud’s reputation as a company successfully geared towards content creators
Would you still use SoundCloud’s monetization features? Let us know on social media!
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