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Let's start from the beginning:
In this article you'll learn what SoundCloud is, how it works for you as a musician and how you can make money with it. We also give you an ultimate connactz recommendation on how you should proceed to make yourself and your music even more popular!
We've gathered a few interesting facts about SoundCloud that you probably didn't know yet:
Despite the many users and tracks, SoundCloud conveys a rather personal feeling. It is the platform for (still) unknown musicians and labels. This fact also attracts an audience that is not only looking for mainstream. This is exactly your chance to present yourself as an artist to a suitable audience.
First, simply register as an artist on SoundCloud and then select your package.
for free
You can only upload up to 3 hours of music with the Basic version and also the download for your fans is limited to 100 per track.
In the free version, unfortunately, you cannot activate the comment function, but you can interact with your fans via direct messages and be informed about new messages.
As a Basic subscriber you have the possibility to embed your songs in your website and customize the view there according to your wishes.
With Basic you can't use SoundCloud for distribution and earn money. You can only receive donations from your fans.
To understand who is listening to your music, SoundCloud offers Insights. However, with the basic version, these are very limited.
With a Basic package you get access to the resource hub compiled by music industry experts, but don't have premium support (guaranteed response within 1 day) like with the other two packages.
Approx. 30,00 € / year
The Repost subscription can be used mainly for monetization and offers few other benefits.
Approx. 99,00 € / year
The Pro Unlimited is absolutely premium class and the most comprehensive package that you can currently purchase at SoundCloud. It offers full services and as the name suggests - no or hardly any limits. In addition to the possibilities offered by Basic & Repost, you can book the following additional services with Pro:
You can not only upload "unlimited" music (Attention! Small print: "The size for individual music files is limited to 4 GB, the upload time per track to 6 hours and 45 minutes"), but your tracks can actually be downloaded unlimited. In addition, the Unlimited version offers you much better planning. For example, you can determine the release of your songs in advance.
With Pro you have the possibility to activate and control the comment function. Of course, you can also contact your community via direct messages, just like in the Basic version.
A quite exciting feature with the Pro version is that you can replace your tracks without losing your stats. You'll also benefit from exclusive deals from SoundCloud's audio production partners.
For those of you who don't already have a large fanbase and are just starting your career, we highly recommend the Basic package. Once you've built a small community, you can try the Pro Unlimited version for free for 30 days and take your first steps in the monetization process.
However, even with SoundCloud, you won't become successful overnight. To understand how SoundCloud works and how you can use it successfully, read the next section:
With tags you can categorize your music and be found better. The more specific you are, the easier it is for potential fans to find you.
Let's assume that you have mistakenly tagged your uploaded track as "pop". What happens now is that listeners who are explicitly interested in pop will come across your music and consider it irrelevant because you don't match their search - the less often you will be placed in search.
Ask yourself, which genre you serve with your music and deposit appropriate tags to your songs. We recommend between 5 and 10 tags.
You put so much effort into your songs, yet no one clicks them. This may be because you don't use eye-catching images.
We've come across so many artists on SoundCloud who use the same unobtrusive image for every track. They get lost in the multitude of songs available on the streaming platform. Think for yourself - which song would you rather listen to, one with an image that catches your eye, or one with an inconspicuous image?
Remember, you want to stand out from the crowd and images are one of the first things listeners notice. Look for images for your tracks that stand out, inspire and at best reflect your music (please be aware of licensing issues).
Not everyone has to like your music, and that's perfectly okay. However, it is important how you deal with criticism or negative comments. Ignoring them is the wrong way. Respond to the opinion without trying to convince and show interest. On a comment of a user, which reads e.g. as follows: "I do not like the track!" you can answer that you find that very unfortunate and request the user to listen to the other tracks. Maybe there is one that suits him better.
We're often asked, "Why don't we have many listeners on SoundCloud?"
Even if you've followed all the tips so far, sometimes it takes a little more effort to really perform successfully on SoundCloud! Start talking about your music, share it, call your fans to support you and seek contact with labels, promotion channels, music distributors and other artists.
No matter the industry, it's all about networking. Your art can be great, but if no one notices it, it won't do you much good. That's why we recommend you to expand your network. Send demos, share links, and write to anyone you think might be valuable to your career. If only one good contact is made, the work will have been worth it.
As already described in the previous sections about the individual packages, you need at least the Repost, better yet the Pro subscription to earn money with SoundCloud. The streaming provider's payment model is based on how often your tracks are streamed. It doesn't matter from which platform, because SoundCloud advertises that you receive 100% of the revenue from third-party providers.
The company itself is keeping quiet about how many streams it will pay out for. However, figures of €3.00 to €2,000.00 per month are circulating. From this, we can conclude that about 3€ per 1,000 streams are paid out.
Not every artist can earn money with SoundCloud. We have summarized the most important points you need to consider in order to participate in the monetization program:
We are convinced that SoundCloud offers a good opportunity to present and promote yourself and your music. However, if you are hoping for big money, you might be disappointed.
Therefore, we recommend you to use SoundCloud to get to know your listeners better, to post your tracks and to build up a small but nice community. If you stick with it and your streams increase over time, then you can try the pro version and earn money.