SoundCloud announces Fan-Powered Friday to celebrate one year of fan-powered royalties system

Following the success of Bandcamp's ongoing Bandcamp Fridays which sees the platform waive its revenue shares on sales on the first Friday of every month, SoundCloud has announced a similar initiative to celebrate one year since the launch of its fan-powered royalties system.

SoundCloud launched its own branding of a user-centric streaming model described as a "fan-powered royalties" sytem in April last year, and this Friday (29 April) SoundCloud has pledged to match 100% of artists' revenue for the day, doubling artists' payouts for an event titled Fan-Powered Friday.

Fan-Powered Royalties is our more equitable and transparent way for independent artists who monetize directly with SoundCloud to get paid and on 4/29, we will be DOUBLING artist payouts, matching 100% of revenue earned! Hit the link to learn more: https://t.co/5GTnIsjMwk pic.twitter.com/ovubKMDWO9

— SoundCloud (@SoundCloud) April 26, 2022

According to Music Business Worldwide, 135,000 independent artists are now receiving payment through the platform's fan-powered royalties system, and there's been a 30% increase in artists signing up to SoundCloud's royalties system since March last year.

The piece also reports that SoundCloud revealed that independent artists are, on avergae, earning 60% more through the platform's fan-powered royalties system compared to other streaming services that use a traditional model.

Since March last year, SoundCloud has also seen 97% of fans contribute more than $5 to "a single artist they love" through its fan-powered royalties system.

SoundCloud also shared a statement regarding the new stats, "The model’s working. Artists with authentic and loyal fan bases are being rewarded - and it’s just the first step."

"Fan-Powered Royalties is powering a fan economy where there’s opportunity for more engagement between artists and their fans; driving the creation of an innovative, integrated ecosystem to promote the artist-fan relationship across multiple touchpoints on SoundCloud," the statement added.