Wondering if you should buy Soundcloud plays? It’s a tough world out there for up-and-coming artists trying to make a name for themselves. There’s a lot of competition and it’s frustrating when you feel like your music isn’t getting heard. Buying SoundCloud plays and SoundCloud Likes is something that many of you will have suggested to you. But, is this practice a good thing or not?
Similar to buying Instagram followers, buying Soundcloud plays has its advantages, but also a lot of downsides. In this article, we explore the pros, cons, and our conclusion in helping you make up your own mind.
Why Buy Soundcloud Plays?
Firstly, when you’re a new artist, one of the main challenges faced is getting your music heard and shared with a wider audience. This can be really hard and can take time to build up your fan base.
Moreover, it’s natural that artists want to get promoting their tracks and out there as soon as possible. And the temptation is therefore to employ some quick-fix methods, such as buying views or tapping into free SoundCloud plays.
Similar to buying Instagram followers, the idea behind buying cheap SoundCloud plays is to hopefully get more people listening to your tracks and sharing them with their friends.
However, generally speaking, if you purchase Soundcloud plays and buy SoundCloud followers, is not considered good practice and is officially against the terms and conditions of the site. It has a lot of potential for spam and at the end of the day, these plays are essentially ‘fake plays’.
They are not building genuine fans and followers of your music. Even if some services offer you to buy real SoundCloud plays, are they really? How do you know? How are the plays counted?
So, Should I Buy Soundcloud Plays?
With all of that being said, let’s go through the pros and cons of if you buy Soundcloud plays.
Pros
Here are the pros:
Kickstart Your Campaign
Firstly, buying plays can kickstart your campaign to get things going and it can potentially attract attention from record labels, agents, media, etc. But, this is not guaranteed. And if there are spikes in your engagement and long-tail drop, that’s not going to look good.
Strengthen Your Social Media Presence
Furthermore, it can help to strengthen your profile on social media and make you look popular.
Moreover, it can potentially get people talking about you and your music.
Cons
Here are the cons:
It’s Obvious – Don’t Buy Soundcloud Plays!
With that being said, it’s fickle and temporary. Additionally, to the trained “music industry” eye (A&R at record labels included), it’s pretty obvious when someone has been buying plays.
So, it does have the potential to have the opposite effect to what you’re intending. And can undermine your credibility as a genuine artist. Just be aware that bought plays are not targeted. It is purely a numbers game.
Moreover, like buying Instagram followers, you may get loads of people suddenly appearing on your account. But you don’t know who or where they are and only a small percentage are likely to be your target audience. So essentially there are a lot of wasted plays.
You’re Open To Scams
There are some legitimate and effective companies out there. But there are also a lot of scams. There are companies offering to “buy SoundCloud plays for $1”, not a good look. Make sure you research genuine sites to buy Soundcloud plays.
Furthermore, only ever use a company you have really researched and have been recommended. We recommend you look for people doing organic SoundCloud music promotion also known as Soundcloud Promoters.
Don’t fall for the ones who contact you directly or ask for your login details. Generally speaking, these will be the scammers. You should only ever need to supply a link to your SoundCloud track. Also, check customer satisfaction reviews.
Success Is Not Guaranteed
Additionally, despite paying for it, your success is not guaranteed. You still have to put an element of hope into play and people can unfollow you just as easily.
The main thing to consider is that building yourself up as an artist should take time.
You want to be around for the long term and it takes time to build up a genuine following. Don’t forget, you can win X Factor or The Voice and literally never be heard of again after the post-show interviews are done!
We’re not saying don’t ever buy any Soundcloud plays – but we kind of are. We’re just saying there’s a lot you can do without running the risk of getting banned or restricted – that can be just as (if not more) beneficial to your future as a Billboard-topping artist.
Don’t Buy Soundcloud Plays -Build Your Social Networks & Following
Patience Is A Virtue
It will happen if you put the effort in.
Quality Music
Believe the adage, “Quality over Quantity”.
Focus on producing high-quality music that will stand up alongside established artists. Be creative and different. Stand out from the crowd.
Get Out There & Be Heard
Busk, play tiny gigs and grow your real fanbase. We all have to start somewhere. And getting in front of real people in real places with a real interest in music is crucial.
Start with small venues, bars, and pubs and grow in your own time. A lot of being successful in music is about being confident. And this comes with experience.
Music Marketing
Work on a genuine marketing campaign through media and social platforms and get together the tools you need to do this.
Such as a simple website, a video channel (e.g. YouTube), a great artist bio to use for media, some quality photos, video clips (not too large), and cover artwork.
Make sure everywhere you go or whoever you work with includes you into their own marketing and social media.
Social Media
Focus on growing your social media and online music profile across all platforms and share your music through them.
Keep your social media current and regularly updated. Use key hashtags to be found. Follow others and they are likely to follow you back.
The Old School Approach
Before the advent of social media, Soundcloud and Spotify, people actually still got their music played! Who knew?!
Try the old-school approach. Reach out to music media and radio producers. Do a bit of sleuthing (it’s easy via websites and Linkedin to find producers of your local, regional, and national press and radio stations) and pitch yourself to them directly.
Collaborate
Contact your favourite influencers, local personalities, and other artists. See if they’d be happy to work with you.
Organic Spotify Plays / Playlist Promotion
Lastly, this is a great way to get your music heard and gain SoundCloud plays that really mean something long-term.
You can try to get your music featured on the playlists yourself. But there’s a lot of competition and music curators and influencers tend to work strictly with trusted sources.
Having said this, we (Мusic Gateway) have built up key relationships directly with curators on Spotify. So get in touch and see how we can help you.
Finally, read our blog and helpful ‘how-tos’ to learn about how best to promote yourself to a wider audience. We have lots of useful guides for Soundcloud users.
Our Final Thoughts on Whether to Buy Soundcloud Plays
If you’d rather have a bit more structured help, we provide a wide range of music promotion and PR services designed specifically to increase your number of plays and streams. Matched to each artist’s musical style.
Aside from the passion and experience, we have a powerful influencer network at our fingertips and direct contact with tastemakers in the UK.
Head on over to our Music Promotion page to find out what we do. Or, send us an email with your contact details and we’ll be happy to help you.
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