SoundCloud is a unique platform for the music community. It gives independent artists the chance to share their music and network with other musicians. Often the birthplace of many rappers, DJs, producers, and all walks of musical life, SoundCloud promotion has had a huge impact on the industry. You, as an artist, likely already share your music on the platforms. However, sharing your music and getting it heard are two different issues. In this guide, we will tell you why you should be using the platform and how to promote music on SoundCloud.
The significance of this platform is huge. It sees artists push genres to their boundaries and houses creativity like no other. Its benefit, however, has also been its downfall. SoundCloud is free to use for listeners and artists to a certain degree. This is what makes the platform viable for music sharing for all artists. Chance The Rapper has a huge part to play in saving the platform from going under a few years back. SoundCloud’s accessibility is what makes it so special and the fight to keep it alive is a necessary one.
If you’re an independent artist or new to the scene, you will want to promote your music on SoundCloud. Here we will tell you the best way to do so and give you tips on how to maximise your success.
Why Should You Promote Music On SoundCloud?
If you’re into music, you’ve probably used SoundCloud. For any bedroom DJ or experimental producer, this is a haven for music creativity. Even with a free account, you can share a certain amount of music.
However, with little scope for profit off the platform, is it worth putting the effort in to promote your music there?
Sharing Music
Yes, that is the simple answer. SoundCloud promotion offers an easy and simple way to share your music. Once your track is uploaded, you can share it with any other media platform. The free version allows you to store 3 hours of songs, mixes, or sets, which is plenty for someone just starting to share their music. This allows you to promote and distribute your music for free!
SoundCloud does have various paid versions depending on your requirements. SoundCloud promotion Pro Unlimited is targeted at creators and gives you extra features such as unlimited upload time and even monetization. If you are a new creator, starting with the free version is perfect until you are more familiar with the platform.
Empowering Artists
SoundCloud promotion is all about empowering independent artists. Even though the majority of tracks are free to stream, creators can add the options for paid download links. This gives artists a chance to earn from the platform.
Despite whether you set a paid download link, streams will also earn you money. Especially with a paid account and monetized music, you can earn around 55% of your net revenue. SoundCloud pays creators this money through the use of ads on the platform.
Music Community
Having a platform that brings together creatives is an amazing opportunity for feedback and networking. One popular feature is the comment section, allowing anyone to comment on tracks. This is perfect for getting feedback and seeing how your music is perceived before paying for any distribution.
You can also set your songs to private. This means only people you have sent a link to will be able to listen. This gives creators the ability to store unfinished tracks and share them with friends and connections to get feedback and advice.
How To Promote Music On SoundCloud
Simply clicking the share button won’t earn you many listens if your account doesn’t have a big following. There are certain steps you can take to help boost your scope on the platform. Here we will discuss the best ways to promote your music on SoundCloud promotion.
Download Links
How you approach this depends on your goals. Paid download links are the best way for creators to earn off SoundCloud. When you’re uploading a track you just go to metadata and add the link. You will have to have your music shared with a platform such as Bandcamp where downloads cost. Once uploaded there will be an option to download which will redirect you to the platform you are sharing your paid music with.
However, you should also consider offering free download links. If you are a new creator, the scope for people to pay for your music might be small. Instead, you might want to offer free download links to help promote your music.
This is something often targeted at DJs. With so much new and revolutionary music on the site, DJs use it as a source for their songs. Giving a free download link makes DJs more likely to download your music and have it played to a live audience! Even though you won’t get paid through this, your music will be shared with the world.
Add Tags
Tags on SoundCloud work similar to tags on social media. Their purpose is to make you more discoverable. You can add as many as you like as long as they are relatable to your song.
The most popular tags are ones such as #instrumentalist, #rapartist, #soundcloudpromotion and #newmusic. It is important to consider the number of people using a tag. If thousands of creators are using the same tag, the tracks will be lost within countless others. Using a tag that has low traction will bring around little engagement. It is best to use tags that are true to your music but aren’t extremely overused.
Network
You want to engage with others in the SoundCloud community. This applies equally to other creators and your listeners.
Follow everyone who follows you or engages with your account. You need to build your social presence on the platform like you would on social media. Find similar artists follow their accounts and engage with their content. This will make them more likely to do the same to you. Also following accounts that engage with your content will make them more likely to be loyal listeners.
Share On Other Platforms
Once your music is uploaded you want to share it anywhere you can. This means posting all over social media. Different social media platforms can be great for music promotion. Twitter for example was the home of many SoundCloud rappers not long ago and became a social platform for many SoundCloud users. Instagram is now essential for building your brand. It is where you are most likely to build a personal following and make your artist alias more relatable.
Work With Other Creators
Collaboration can be great for promotion in any industry. Collaborating with other artists brings together two fan bases and increases your audience. You promote the other artists whilst they do the same for you. Even better, a more established artist might listen to your tracks and want to feature you on their songs. This will immediately expose you to a wider audience and push your name into the public.
If a collaboration is not yet something you are interested in, mixing other people’s songs can also be a good tactic. This depends on your genre, skill, and type of musician you are, but mixing other people’s songs will not only grab their attention but their fans also.
Analyse Your Success
SoundCloud offers statistics on how your music is doing on their platform. This provides information on who’s listening to your music and where. This should inform you of how you’re going to market yourself. Knowing your audience is imperative for planning your promotions.
Use SoundCloud Promote
It is important to note this option is not free but can be amazing to boost your engagement. SoundCloud offers a specific promotion service which is one of the best ways to promote music on SoundCloud. This is like running a marketing campaign for your music.
You select one of your tracks that has to be monetized and give the promotion a name. Now you choose whether to use simple or advanced targeting. This is similar to how paid ads work. The advanced setting will let you choose what audiences you specifically want to target. Age, demographic, gender, genre, you can be as specific as you like.
Now you pick a budget for how much you’d like to pay for the promotion. This will dictate how well SoundCloud pushes your promotion. The amount you spend depends on your financial viability and the scope of your target audience. Now just set how long you want the promotion to last and check the availability for promotions on the platform
This will push your music out to the public. Your songs will appear at the top of the audience homepages that you have targeted. This gives your music the best chance of being discovered.
Now You Know How To Promote Music On SoundCloud
If you’ve been asking “How do I promote my music on SoundCloud?”, we hope that clears things up. Once you have uploaded a track it can seem like the work is done and your music will speak for itself. In such a competitive industry we’re afraid that isn’t the case. Promoting your work is fundamental for your music to prosper. We hope this guide will help you achieve that and take advantage of what SoundCloud offers.
Entering the music industry is tough. You may be a talented musician, but gaining a following and earning money from your work can be challenging. SoundCloud is the perfect place to start. It provides a free platform to share your tracks with the music community. Having this ability to build your portfolio and network with similar creators is essential for encouraging engagement with your page. No matter if you are an MC or an indie band, SoundCloud is the perfect place to promote and share your music.
Promote your Soundcloud tracks and grow your fanbase here, as well as Free Music Distribution and find opportunities to get your music in film, TV, and more through sync licensing. Plus get Music Supervision, Music Publishing, Music Marketing, Artist Development and utilize our Free Artist Websites. Finally, you can amplify your music to those who need to hear it music promotion and professional sharing tool.
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