SoundCloud has made amendments to the language in its agreement contract with artists signed up to its Premier monetization program.
The Berlin-based platform expanded its direct monetization service, SoundCloud Premier, from a previously invite-only programme to hundreds of thousands of users earlier in October.
The initial agreement for Premier was subsequently criticised by some after the Verge revealed the terms of the contact which an artist has to agree with when signing up to the service.
One particular point of contention was the inclusion of the “covenant not to sue” which means that artists would not be able to pursue legal recourse for disputes with the platform.
SoundCloud has published a blog post today, (October 29) calling some of the language used in the contract “outdated”, stating that it was originally part of the invite only-only agreement. The firm has now removed the “covenant not to sue”.
“We’ve clarified or removed elements that may be unclear or not relevant to the open service we have now.”
SoundCloud
“As we’ve grown, we’ve also seen feedback that some language in the original program agreement was too broad, and we want to avoid any doubt around your rights and how we run the program,” said SoundCloud.
“We’ve clarified or removed elements that may be unclear or not relevant to the open service we have now.
“This includes the removal of the outdated covenant not to sue language that was part of our previous invite-only agreement.
“To be clear, this updated agreement does not change the way we already operate SoundCloud Premier today.”
According to SoundCloud, artists signed up to Premier retain all of the rights to their content and receive “a pro rata share of 55% of net revenue”.
Artists are paid for each calendar month within 45 days of the end of that month, “regardless of how much you earn”.
Premier members are also free to exit the program whenever they like, and according to SoundCloud’s Terms of Use, the company will notify artists two weeks before it makes any changes to the agreement.
SoundCloud states that existing Premier members will receive the updated contract via email.Music Business Worldwide
