EP/41: FAN-POWERED ROYALTIES

SoundCloud’s Fan-Powered Royalties with Drea Jackson.

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Streaming platforms have given us the gift of cheap, easy access to any song in the world but they have also attracted criticism from indie artists who complain that the royalty system they ushered in unfairly favors the top artists. SoundCloud was an early pioneer in streaming and always catered to the indie community. So it makes sense that they are trying to improve the economics for smaller artists, in part with a new system they call Fan-Powered Royalties. 

We’re joined today by Drea Jackson, Manager of Artist Relations at SoundCloud. Drea walks us through the history of SoundCloud, how their Fan-Powered system differs from the Big Pool system used by the other big streaming platforms - and how it helps emerging artists. Drea joins us from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn. 

Check out SoundCloud at: soundcloud.com and follow Drea on SoundCloud at: soundcloud.com/dreavibes.

About DREA

Drea Jackson is an Artist Development and Relations Manager at SoundCloud, a next generation music entertainment company. She is responsible for building and maintaining SoundCloud’s relationships with artists, managers, producers and agents, as well as educating the creator community on how to best utilize SoundCloud and its artist services to build and grow their careers. Prior to SoundCloud, Drea was a Strategist on the Brand Partnerships team at SoundCloud & Pandora, where she crafted narratives and sales strategies for potential sponsorships. In addition to her professional role, Drea helps lead Clouds of Color, one of SoundCloud’s diversity resource groups. Drea is a graduate of Spelman College, where she received a bachelor’s degree in Economics.