Connecting Stripe to get paid

Short version: Sonic Bloom doesn't handle your money. Stripe does, and they pay you directly. When someone tips you, buys merch, or subscribes to your fan club, the money goes from their card straight to your Stripe account. We never touch it.

That's the whole reason we have a 0% commission on tips. We literally can't take a cut — the money never passes through us.

What Stripe will ask for

When you click "Connect Stripe" from your dashboard, you'll be sent over to Stripe to set up payouts. Have these ready:

• SSN (if you're paying out as an individual) or EIN (if you have a band LLC or sole prop with a tax ID)
• Bank account info — routing and account number for where payouts should land
• Address — your residential or business address
• Date of birth

It usually takes about 5–10 minutes. You can quit and come back if you need to grab something.

The "Shared legal entity" message

If you've used Stripe before — even years ago, even for something totally unrelated — you might see a screen during setup that says something like "We noticed a shared legal entity" and asks you to confirm. This is normal and safe. Stripe is just recognizing that the SSN or EIN you entered is already tied to an account they've seen. They're asking you to confirm it's really you. Click through and continue.

If you have no idea what they're talking about, that's also fine — sometimes Stripe just flags this conservatively. Confirm and keep going.

What happens after you submit

Stripe reviews your info. For most musicians this takes anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours. You'll get an email from Stripe when you're approved. We'll also flip your dashboard over to show "Stripe connected" and your tip jar will go live.

If Stripe needs more info (a clearer photo of an ID, a different document) they'll email you and link you back into the same dashboard. Just follow what they ask — they're good about being specific.

When you get paid

Once you're set up, payouts run on a rolling 2-day schedule by default. So a tip you receive on Monday usually lands in your bank on Wednesday or Thursday. You can change the schedule from your Stripe dashboard if you'd rather get paid weekly or monthly.

The fees

Sonic Bloom takes 0% on tips. Every dollar a fan tips goes to you — except for what Stripe charges to process the card.

Stripe's standard fee is 2.9% + 30¢ per transaction. So a $5 tip nets you about $4.55. A $20 tip nets you about $19.12. There's no monthly fee, no minimum, no setup charge. You only pay Stripe when you actually get paid.

For merch and fan club subscriptions, the same Stripe fee applies. We still take 0% on tips and we currently take 0% on merch and fan club too. (We'll be transparent if that ever changes — and if it does, it'll always be a small flat percentage, never a per-fan tax.)

What if I don't want to do this?

You don't have to. You can run your Sonic Bloom site without connecting Stripe — you just won't be able to take tips, sell merch, or run a paid fan club. The site, the EPK, the show listings, the music player, custom domain — all of that still works.

But Stripe is the single piece of infrastructure that makes "0% commission tip jar" actually mean something, so most artists do it eventually. When you're ready, the "Connect Stripe" button is on your dashboard's Payments page.

Still have questions?

Contact Jamey directly. He answers payment questions personally — usually within a day.