SoundCloud has been the target negativity for some time, but the Berlin-based streaming platform is still very much alive. The strength of SoundCloud lies in its ability to allow new and independent artists to thrive, develop and create, whilst also being a home for established mainstream artists. Here are our top reasons why you shouldn’t give up on SoundCloud just yet.
Spotify may be the platform that comes to mind when thinking of music streaming services, but its catalog of 30 million-plus tracks pales into insignificance against SoundCloud’s 125 million tracks. SoundCloud has been the go-to destination for those wanting to discover those unique and one-of-a-kind artists. Passionate music lovers can discover independent artists and satisfy their desires for obscure sub-genres, some of which have gone on to dominate mainstream charts like future bass and trap.
Through campaigns such as ‘First on SoundCloud’ and the chart functionality, it’s now even easier to discover artists with a similar sound to the ones you already love. The platform will recommend lesser-known artists via their recommendation tool. This paves the way for undiscovered artists with talent to go viral and even enter the mainstream. Post Malone rose to fame after posting track ‘White Iverson’ on SoundCloud in 2015 and went on to rack up millions of plays. They are now one of the most highly sought-after Urban artists in the music industry.
Whilst Spotify may be the world’s most popular streaming site, when it comes to embedding tracks on outside pages, SoundCloud wins hands down. When pitching to labels, blogs, and playlisters, for example on SubmitHub, they will usually require SoundCloud links to firstly listen and then embed onto their site. Long gone are the days of posting out CDs or attaching MP3s to emails (which just get caught in spam filters). Even better, SoundCloud’s player allows full-length tracks to be embedded whereas Spotify’s equivalent will only play 30 seconds.
Commenting is a core social feature on SoundCloud and is unique because comments can be left at any point on the waveform. Fans and listeners can ask about specific features on tracks starting conversations between passionate song writers, producers and listeners. It’s this attention to detail that makes SoundCloud function as the music lover’s destination. Where else can creators and listeners engage in this much detail?
Available to musicians aged 18 and over, Pro or Pro Unlimited subscribers with over 5000 streams in the past month, and only publishes original music content can join the SoundCloud Premier program. Once joined, artists can turn on monetization for their tracks. Monetization can be turned on for previously published material, but artists won’t be paid for streams generated before they joined Premier. As a promise, SoundCloud have said that revenue shares will meet or beat other music services such as Spotify or Tidal.
To publish music on Spotify artists still need to work with a distributor or a record label who already has a distributor in order to make this happen. In 2018, Spotify launched a direct upload tool into beta on Spotify for Artists, but this function has not been taken any further. Contrast this with SoundCloud and tracks can be uploaded straight away without having to go through a record label or distributors such as DistroKid or TuneCore. This can be particularly helpful when writing new material. Testing new sounds with the SoundCloud community allows artists to build and grow together.
In addition to all the awesome features that SoundCloud has, being with RepostExchange makes the experience even better with their trading platform built on sharing the music you’re passionate about and getting your music promoted in return. The community aspect is unparalleled: find people to trade or buy beats with, make new connections with collaborators, organically increase engagement on your tracks, receive constructive feedback and support from real users, find new artists to cherish and love and more importantly, make friends.
