Editorial brief — 1 November 2026. This brief provides starting points for further reporting. It draws primarily on the platforms' own public documentation and may contain errors, omissions or outdated information. Features, eligibility rules and commercial terms can change. Verify the details with each platform and seek independent evidence before publishing a finished investigation or comparison.
Publisher disclosure: This brief is published by Kallitone, one of the platforms discussed below.
A music streaming platform can change more than the way a play button looks. It can change how subscription revenue is divided, how artists sell recordings, who influences discovery and what listeners receive for participating.
SoundCloud, Deezer, Kallitone, Audius and TIDAL illustrate different attempts to change those rules. Their catalogues, audiences and business models differ, but each offers a specific idea worth investigating.
For anyone covering the future of music, the interesting question is what changes in practice when a platform describes its approach as revolutionary.
The five approaches at a glance
| Platform | What it is trying to change | A potential reporting angle |
|---|---|---|
| SoundCloud | How listeners' activity contributes to artist royalties. | Can a dedicated audience become more valuable than a large casual audience? |
| Deezer | How different listening activity is weighted in royalty allocation. | Who benefits when a platform changes what counts towards payment? |
| Kallitone | How unfamiliar music earns visibility through listener comparisons. | Can a song build a reputation before its artist has a following? |
| Audius | The infrastructure and commercial tools available for sharing music. | How much practical control does decentralisation give musicians? |
| TIDAL | The relationship between streaming access and direct music purchases. | Will streaming audiences also become paying collectors? |
1. SoundCloud: making royalties follow the listener
SoundCloud's Fan-Powered Royalties connect earnings for eligible monetised music to the activity of the people listening to it. Its published explanation describes allocating subscription or advertising value according to those listeners' engagement.
The proposed change concerns how money is distributed. A musician's relationship with a committed audience becomes part of the payment calculation, rather than earnings depending solely on a platform-wide share of streams.
Why it matters: This gives reporters a concrete way to investigate the economic value of dedicated fans. It also creates an opportunity to distinguish royalties earned on SoundCloud from payments generated through its separate distribution services.
Reporting question: Which kinds of musicians benefit from listener-linked allocation, and what do their actual royalty statements show?
Primary source: SoundCloud's explanation of how artists get paid.
2. Deezer: changing the rules inside the royalty pool
Deezer's Artist-Centric Payment System changes the weighting used in royalty allocation. Its published model includes additional weight for qualifying artists and intentional listening, alongside measures addressing fraudulent activity and non-music content.
In January 2025, Deezer and Sacem announced the model's adoption for publishing rights on Deezer in France. The territory and rights involved are important: a specific agreement should be described within its stated scope.
Why it matters: Payment design involves decisions about which activity deserves more weight. Qualification thresholds and listening categories therefore become part of the story, alongside the platform's stated ambition to improve remuneration.
Reporting question: Which artists and rights holders gain or lose when those rules change, and how are the effects measured?
Primary source: Deezer and Sacem's announcement and methodology notes.
3. Kallitone: giving listeners a role in building discovery rankings
Kallitone approaches the problem of how an unfamiliar recording gets its first meaningful hearing.
During voting, listeners compare two recordings with artist identities withheld. The standard requirement is at least 15 seconds from each track, using passages selected randomly from within the songs. Preferences contribute to Elo-style ratings that help organise the catalogue.
The platform also describes participation rewards in KLT, which can be used for listening, and states that KLT cannot purchase visibility boosts.
Why it matters: Listeners contribute to the discovery process itself. An artist can enter a comparison before the voter has chosen to follow their profile or search for their name. The resulting ranking reflects participating listeners' preferences.
Reporting question: Can those comparisons lead to lasting discoveries? Useful evidence would include complete-song listening, return visits and continued interest in the artists encountered.
Primary sources: Kallitone's published model and its explanation of blind voting and its limitations.
4. Audius: combining open audio infrastructure with artist-controlled offers
Audius describes itself as a decentralised music-sharing protocol. Its consumer platform offers free basic streaming and uploading, while artists can also offer paid access to music.
Its help documentation describes purchases that unlock streaming or downloads. The fee page checked for this brief lists a 10% network fee on music sales, with the remaining revenue available to the artist.
Why it matters: Audius brings infrastructure, governance and commercial choices into the same discussion. The relevant story extends beyond whether an artist can upload a recording: it includes who operates the network and which decisions participants can influence.
Reporting question: How much practical independence do musicians gain, and how easily can an ordinary listener use the available features?
Primary sources: Audius protocol documentation and its costs and fees explanation.
5. TIDAL: bringing direct purchases into a streaming environment
TIDAL's Direct-to-Fan Sales allow eligible artists to sell music within its ecosystem. Its support page, updated on 31 August 2026, describes seller eligibility for US-based artists and requires the necessary rights to the material.
The same documentation states that TIDAL charges no platform fee for these sales, while Square payment-processing fees still apply. Seller eligibility and buyer availability should be checked separately.
Why it matters: Direct purchasing gives an artist another commercial relationship with a listener alongside streaming. The reporting opportunity is to examine how effectively those behaviours coexist inside one service.
Reporting question: Do listeners who encounter music through streaming also buy it, and what helps an artist turn that encounter into a purchase?
Primary source: TIDAL's Direct-to-Fan Sales documentation.
What would make these changes revolutionary?
A different mechanism gives a platform a story to tell. Its broader significance depends on the results: whether musicians develop sustainable audiences, listeners find music they value and the service can support its ongoing costs.
These models also address different problems. A change in royalty allocation does not automatically solve discovery. A discovery ranking still needs listeners who return. Direct purchases require people willing to spend beyond access to a catalogue.
A useful investigation could follow the same independent musician across several services, documenting the time invested, audience reached, repeat engagement and money received. That would help connect platform design to an artist's experience.
Questions to take into further reporting
- Which features are available today, and which remain proposals or limited rollouts?
- Who qualifies to participate, and in which countries?
- What fees, deductions and payment conditions apply?
- What evidence exists beyond the platform's own announcements?
- Can artists describe a lasting benefit, rather than a short promotional spike?
The future of streaming offers several stories about who earns money, who controls distribution and who helps unfamiliar music find an audience. Each of these platforms provides a different place to begin reporting.