Rumor: Soundcloud is considering letting users pay artists directly direct

Music service Soundcloud is considering letting users pay artists directly. This differs from Soundcloud’s current model, which divides the income proportionally among artists. Artists have wanted such a model for a long time.

Soundcloud would like to present the new feature before the end of March, Billboard reports. The direct payments would be one of the options for alternative ways of payment to artists, the music magazine says, based on anonymous sources. The Chinese Tencent QQ Music also uses such a model, the magazine notes.

Music streaming services now split revenue pro rata; the more songs an artist streams, the more revenue they get. Streaming services use the income from subscriptions and possibly advertisements for payments.

Soundcloud probably wants to make its service more attractive to artists with the new option, who may get more income from it than with the current model. Then fans may follow those artists to Soundcloud. The German company has not commented on the rumor.