The invite-only audio chat app Clubhouse is sweetening the deal for creators by offering a direct payment option that would allow them to reap 100% of the rewards.
In a Monday blog post, Clubhouse announced that it would partner with the payment processing startup Stripe to offer direct payments on the app for the first time in order to bring the platform in line with its foundational principle of putting creators first.
“Our aim is to help creators build community, audience, and impact,” the blog post says. “And as Clubhouse continues to scale, it’s important to us to align our business model with that of the creators—helping them make money and thrive on the platform.”
Although not all creators will be eligible to receive payments immediately — Clubhouse says it will begin rolling out payments in waves “starting with a small test group” — apparently 100% of those payments will actually go to the creators themselves, with Clubhouse declining to take a cut of the profits.
The monetization tool will be the first built directly into the app’s infrastructure, and will allow users to tap on the profile of the creator of their choice and elect to “Send Money,” which will trigger a prompt to enter credit or debit card information. Once activated — and after a credit card processing fee has been paid — users will be able to send direct cash transfers to the creator of their choosing, all of which will be processed through Stripe.
The announcement seems to be part of a larger initiative to incentivize would-be creators and influencers, which Clubhouse has been angling to net in droves. In March, the platform announced a new accelerator program called “Clubhouse Creator First,” which would “support and equip 20 creators w/ resources they need to bring their ideas and creativity to life,” per a tweet.
In short, Clubhouse — an invite-only social network that has clout-chasing and exclusivity baked into its premise — needs to be populated by chat influencers in order to thrive, and is creating an incentive package in order to keep those users on the app. And with dozens of copycat platforms already chomping at the bit to steal Clubhouse’s bit, it will need lots of good tricks up its sleeve to make sure it doesn’t lose valuable talent to any given number of competitors.