How To Get More Plays on SoundCloud: 5 Legit Strategies …
As an artist, you are responsible for promoting your own music. So how do you promote yourself to get more plays on SoundCloud?
Here are 5 rock-solid SoundCloud promotion strategies that are relevant for the music industry in 2021. Here’s a snapshot of what you’ll learn:
The truth about SoundCloud and promotionOne thing you need to get right before you start promoting yourselfHow to leverage existing audiences to maximize your plays
By following these strategies, you can increase the number of plays you’ll get on SoundCloud, as well as followers and likes. Let’s go!
Check out our FREE eBook – 10 Tips For Promoting Your Music on a Budget. Nail your social media strategy Give your music the best chance of success Find your ideal audience online
A Brief Note
SoundCloud has made changes within the last few years where the home page is no longer your stream. This means that people who follow you aren’t always going to be finding your music when it comes out.
Spotify is a much more popular option these days for listening to music, and it allows you to reach a wider audience.
Including key services like Spotify and Apple Music in 2021 is crucial in unlocking the full power of promotion and marketing.
Apart from that, here are 5 strategies that will get you more plays on Soundcloud:
Make great music firstLeverage existing audiences on the platformUse email for networking and promotionGet into repost chainsMake your music discoverable
Strategy 1: Make (Actually) Great Music
While it is possible to promote crap music, it never survives the ultimate test: the opinion of the audience.
No matter how much PR or marketing you give a track, if it’s really average, then nobody wants to listen, and you won’t get plays.
Never forget this golden rule of music promotion – your music is the marketing. You don’t just market music, it’s inherently linked to the promotion process.
One of my earlier tracks, ‘Carpark Anxiety’, has only gotten 900 plays in 3 years, even though I sent it to a lot of people. Why? Nobody wanted to share it, because it’s very average.
People don’t buy a vacuum cleaner if they don’t want one, so people won’t listen to music if they don’t like it. This is especially true on Soundcloud, where the barrier of entry is so low that a lot of horrible music gets uploaded, meaning listeners have more to sift through.
I’ve found over time that artists and producers (especially those who want a career) tend to overestimate the quality of their music. I did in the early days, and you can go and listen to my really old music and hear the improvement over time.
One of my newer drum & bass tracks, a bootleg of Porter Robinson’s Get Your Wish, got a lot of plays and was shared a lot more, because this track is much higher quality than my old stuff.
But this begs the question – should I upload my music if it’s not 100% there yet? This is arguable, but on a platform like SoundCloud, the stakes are much lower, with removing tracks being just a click away.
Plus, you’re likely to get valuable feedback from the public if you ask for it, allowing you to gauge what will and won’t work.
So while promoting music online is important, getting feedback and taking that into the studio will prove to be a much more valuable use of time.
So how do I make my music ‘better’? That’s another topic entirely, and that’s also why we have courses like EDM Foundations and Songwriting for Producers.
But a few pointers:
Make sure your core musical ideas are solid – production, mixing and mastering won’t matter otherwiseGet feedback from listeners, tastemakers and other artistsBe patient and keep making a large volume of music
Strategy 2: Leverage Existing Audiences
This might be confusing to say, but it’s true.
There are people who are always going to be better at marketing music than you. So don’t reinvent the wheel, use these people to your advantage.
People dedicate their lives to finding and sharing music to audiences that love it, so you.
Find channels on Soundcloud that can share your music to larger numbers of people than you ever could. This could come in the form of
Repost channelsOther artists with bigger followingsPromotional channelsLabels/collectivesPlaylisters
Don’t ignore offsite audiences as well. Just because they don’t have larger audiences on SoundCloud, doesn’t mean a blog or YouTube channel can’t send lots of plays your way.
Make sure to utilize:
BlogsHype MachineYouTube ChannelsSpotify PlaylistsInfluencers (e. g. vloggers, Instagram accounts)Radio stations (some play directly off SoundCloud! )
The key here is to find channels that are a good fit for your music. Don’t go messaging someone just because they have a lot of followers. They are already looking for very specific kinds of music for their tastes.
So play a few of their previous uploads/shares and make a decision. Don’t be too scared if your music isn’t exactly the same as what’s already there, but if it’s too different, it’ll likely get a pass.
Once you know who to send music to, then you need to figure out how.
Strategy 3: Email is still King
How do you send a message:
that you know the recipient will getthat goes to a place they check very oftenthat is simple and clearusing something everyone hasthat doesn’t rely on a platform that could be gone soon
The answer? Email. It’s old, but it’s still the best. How does this relate back to SoundCloud you might ask?
Email for Networking
Everyone has an email. Artists. Labels. Promo channels. Repost channels. Avid music fans. And you can communicate with them through this channel, no matter if they have Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or not.
I got my biggest play numbers out of email networking, including a top placement on one of Majestic Casual’s weekly playlists on Soundcloud. In this case, it was a form that sends them an email, but the point still stands.
Here’s an example of me emailing my track to someone for a YouTube upload, and look at the difference in response time.
The first email I sent.
The response time.
I got a response in less than 24 hours!
Granted, this won’t usually be the case for huge names in the industry, but email networking works.
Not to say that you can’t use avenues like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Those channels are great but always try email first. And use the Hubspot extension to track email opens, you’ll thank me later.
To make this easier, you’ll want to be making a list of emails of relevant people you can send your music to. Just use Google Sheets or Excel.
I personally use a software called Notion (has database functionality) to track YouTube channels, Soundcloud pages, labels and more. I’ve blanked out the emails for privacy.
A few tips & tricks about sending emails:
Be concise – the recipient is likely already time-poor, so get to the them a SoundCloud link – it’s the easiest to listen to, and you can make it conversational – don’t just send a link, actually treat the person on the other end like a human, and you’ll get treated like one rsonalise messages – CC’ing a large list never works, and it often annoys people, especially if people ‘Reply All’. Send one message at a time and once again, treat them like a up – not everybody is in a position to do something the first time around. Follow up in a week or two (depending on the person) if they haven’t replied.
If you want more promo email etiquette tips, check out this list from an industry professional.
Building a List
With the decline of plays on SoundCloud (due to the lower visibility of the ‘Stream’), it’s important your core audience still gets to hear your music when it’s released, and what better way to this than email marketing?
ToneDen offers free download gates that you can use to gather emails.
If you’re familiar with download gates like ToneDen and The Artist Union, perhaps start using them to gather people’s email addresses. If you’re a Bandcamp user, you can grab email addresses on checkout too. That way, you can build a list to send your music to next time you have something to release!
Once you’ve got a list, you need to find a email marketing service. Symphonic Distribution compiled a list of the best email marketing platforms for musicians, so make sure to give that a read.
Strategy 4: Repost Chains
This is one of the most useful tools on SoundCloud and is an effective way to garner the force of multiple accounts in a simple, automated way.
You can tell when the repost chain kicked in on my latest track.
In essence, a repost chain is simply a group of people who automatically repost a track, each at a timed interval, to maximise exposure. A service like SCPlanner allows you to do this effortlessly.
Just get a few music buddies in a chain and one person submits new tracks to the chain. As each of you gains followers, you multiply the reach each time.
There are a few ways you can join or create a repost chain:
Producer friends – get your inner circle together and signup to a repost chain. That way you get a guaranteed baseline of exposure every time you upload a chains – a lot of people on Facebook groups etc. are looking for accounts to join repost chains, because the bigger it gets, the more valuable. The only caveat is usually you need at least a certain number of followers to join these (e. 5000+ followers only)Random chains – if you just need exposure, try Googling ‘repost chain’ and you’ll see a bunch of results for submissions to certain chains. Some of these require payment, be wary. Also, these aren’t necessarily an effective way to gain promotion, as you could get a lot of plays that don’t mean much. So be selective.
Sounds good, right? Hold up, there are a few things to consider before joining a chain.
Firstly, make sure you’re okay with reposting the music in that chain. Does it fit with your brand, or will it annoy your followers? Even though the numbers can be appealing, hold off if you think it’ll damage your brand.
Also, some people have a problem with repost chains because it ‘abuses the repost feature’, so have a think if this works for you or not. Personally, I think it’s fine as long as you repost music you like.
Strategy 5: Make Your Music Discoverable
Now that the ‘Discover’ tab exists on Soundcloud, the aim is to get your music featured on this new avenue of discovery.
The best way to do that is metadata. Tell Soundcloud what your music is, and give it the best chance on the platform.
There are a few key ways to do this:
Correct Genre tagsRelevant track tagsName your track appropriatelyUtilize the descriptionGet other engagement (likes, comments etc. )
You might be wondering why I’ve bolded ‘Correct Genre tags’, and that’s because it’s probably one of the most important factors in SoundCloud deciding where your music will be placed.
You can see one of San Holo’s latest tracks is tagged as ‘Electronic’, which is one of the default options when creating your track. Soundcloud likes this because it knows who to show the track to.
Beyond that, the more metadata SoundCloud has, the more opportunities it can give that track on the platform, not only with ‘Discover’ but also with the ‘Charts’ feature, especially when it gets more plays.
Relevant metadata goes beyond the platform into other services like Google, meaning your music will come up in search results too.
Why?
Because Google reads text, not your mind, and if it can see who you are and what your music’s called, it’ll help your chances of showing up. Pretty neat.
Bonus Tip: Don’t Buy Plays
Everyone wants to take the easy road, right? But oftentimes it’s simply not worth it.
For a few thousand extra plays in the short term, you can damage your career, risk your account getting shut down, or simply lose the trust of your true fans. Plus, it’s against SoundCloud’s Terms of Use.
I had to mention this here because it’s often something people consider when they’re looking to up their Soundcloud game. The same can be said for likes and followers, and other platforms too. These stats are fake and don’t provide organic growth.
The Bigger Picture
Like I already said, marketing and promoting your music should go beyond SoundCloud.
Plays aren’t the only thing to consider either.
Yet it’s hard to promote your music well without a lot of money.
That’s why we made our guide about promoting your music on a budget. You can grab it free below:
If you have questions about marketing and promoting your music, let me know at [email protected] – I’d be happy to answer.
Want more promotion and marketing tips? Check out 15 more here.
Real vs Fake SoundCloud Plays
No matter how talented you are, if your tracks on SoundCloud aren’t getting plays you might have a hard time gaining recognition. If nobody’s listening, all that talent is going to waste.
Then you look at other users’ tracks, you listen, and wonder how a terrible song could get a ton of plays. Some people are just too lucky, huh? Maybe that’s true, but maybe they’re also using a little trick – one that you could use too.
You can make your tracks look stellar too. You don’t have to wait for the right time or for fate to smile down at you to get the popularity that your music deserves.
You can buy SoundCloud plays right now and give your music a great chance at becoming popular. When people see how many plays your tracks have, they’ll naturally want to listen as well. If they like what they hear, they might even follow you.
What is a fake play, though, and what is the difference between real and fake SoundCloud plays? Keep reading to find out!
Image credit: AljaTheWriter
Real vs Fake SoundCloud Plays
Real SoundCloud plays come when your tracks are listened to by authentic users, who found you through searching, browsing related tracks, recommendations from friends, or anything else like that.
The SoundCloud user who played the track is a real person, who chose to listen to your music of his or her own accord. That person might make music, or they might not.
Image credit: Muz4Now
A fake SoundCloud play, on the other hand, is one that you buy. They come from bots, or fake profiles whose only purpose is to provide that service. When you buy plays, you can’t expect those users to actually spend money to buy your tracks, or go on to become fans.
Bought plays are only there to strengthen your social proof, making your look better and more popular.
Some fake accounts are of higher quality than others, and look basically like any regular SoundCloud user. Others, however, look pretty obviously fake.
Image credit: Complex
You can often spot a low-quality fake SoundCloud account or bot because they have incomplete profiles, and tend to perform the same activities over and over. They’re often missing profile pictures, they usually have no followers, and they follow a lot of people.
The thing is, both real and fake plays will affect your stats. You can buy plays to get your numbers up and change the SoundCloud landscape, giving you direct control over how popular your tracks look.
You might ask, how can buying fake plays get more people to appreciate your music, when bought plays are only either robots or people paid to click in the first place?
Good question!
Why Should You Buy SoundCloud Plays?
Simple. Your play count is a shortcut for your reputation, and an advertising of sorts that compels real people to click that play button and listen too.
If your name and work are unfamiliar to people but they see that you have plenty of plays, they will trust the wisdom of the majority and play your music as well.
Image credit: CrazyEgg
Science and research call this kind of conformity social proof. In this particular instance, Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is also at play. Because so many people are listening to your music, others want to listen too – they don’t want to be the last ones to hear about the next hot artist.
Social proof is one of the things you must have if you want to make it on SoundCloud. It’s also the main benefit you’ll enjoy from buying SoundCloud plays.
Pros
Strengthens Your Social Credibility
Buying SoundCloud plays can lend you the appearance of an authority figure, a seasoned musician or a talented newcomer with a solid industry backing.
When you see those plays roll in, you’ll know that your tracks will be seen as more popular, more valuable, drawing more people in to come listen.
All of which will attract more followers, more listens, more likes, more comments, and generally more interest in your music. Those bought users won’t end up buying your music, but buying SoundCloud plays will result in a stronger SoundCloud presence.
Get Agencies Interested
Let’s face it, with all the talented artists out there, it will be difficult to get noticed.
A ton of plays on your tracks, however, could be just the ticket you need to catch their eye. When you do, you might just get your first live booking.
Complement Your Organic Marketing Efforts
Are you already promoting your music on your other social media channels? Then you’ll amplify the results of your efforts by buying SoundCloud plays.
The effect of bought plays on your profile is substantial, but together with an organic marketing campaign, it’ll be much more powerful.
Cons
The Plays Are Often Untargeted
You usually won’t be able to control and target demographics like age, gender, and others. You also won’t be able to pick the area where you want your plays to come from.
In some cases you may be able to find providers who offer these targeting services, but it’s not very typical.
Not A Popularly-Accepted Marketing Tactic
A lot of people buy SoundCloud plays and other signals of social media engagement, but nobody will admit to it. It’s best to keep mum about it should you decide to buy. Also, look for a provider that will protect your privacy.
Scammers Abound On The Net
This makes buying SoundCloud plays tricky. This is also the reason why many would warn you against buying plays.
However, if you buy from a reputable company, like the ones on our site, there shouldn’t be any problem and buying plays would go very smoothly for you.
Where To Buy SoundCloud Plays
Beware of fly-by-night sellers and flat-out scammers. Do a little research and read reviews like ours before picking your SoundCloud play provider.
Ask recommendations from friends you trust and don’t settle for the first provider you find. You’ll be happy you did when you wind up with high-quality social media services, from companies who actually care about your reputation.
You Will Be Popular!
Take control of your SoundCloud plays now. Open doors and possibilities for your musical career by buying SoundCloud plays and giving your tracks a headstart in popularity.
Don’t leave it to luck and chance. Instead, augment your marketing efforts with quality plays from quality providers, and consider buying other signals of social engagement too, like followers or comments.
The many benefits that you’ll reap will be fuel for your success!
Image credit: Tenor
Date: February 14, 2017 / Categories: SoundCloud Plays, Tips, / Author: Chell
How much can you earn on SoundCloud? – Times International
In October 2018, Soundcloud announced that it will open its direct monetization program for Indie artists. However, the exact amount you can earn as an artist was not exposed to the public. So we did our own little research and found a number.
The program, called SoundCloud Premier, was created in 2014 but has been limited to an invite-only beta until now. Signing up for it SoundCloud will give you access to the Premiere Program if you meet the criteria. If they accept you into the premiere program then you should be able to monetize your streams going forward.
There are, of course, certain preconditions for making money. In order to qualify for SoundCloud Premier, an artist must be an independent creator with a Pro or Pro Unlimited account. Furthermore, he or she must be 18 years old and have at least 5, 000 plays in the past month from SoundCloud-monetized countries. Any songs monetized with SoundCloud Premier are non-exclusive, and the creator retains all rights.
How much can we expect to earn on SoundCloud?
Signing up for a Premier membership comes at a cost, ranging from $8 to $16 per month for hosting. Luckily, tracks uploaded are available to be monetized within minutes. According to an article from The Verge, artists can get a 55% net revenue share for the songs they upload. So if your music makes $1000 with SoundCloud, it will keep 45%, and you’ll receive the rest, which is $550. This is a little more generous in comparison with Spotify’s 50% net revenue.
However, keep in mind that these are only monetized when played from these nine countries listed here: (These are limited to the US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. ) Furthermore, the actual numbers are more ambiguous than generous.
It is important to take into consideration that the Premier payment system is based on revenue generated from advertising and subscriptions. The amount you make is directly tied to how much money SoundCloud generates. According to Techcrunch, SoundCloud failed to respond to their inquiries about how much artists would earn per 1000 ad-supported or premium subscription listener streams.
However, several users have reported various numbers. In reality, in order to compete with other platforms like Spotify, Google, Amazon, or Apple, SoundCloud has to provide more generous payouts to its artists. This could be a rough estimation of about $3 dollars per 1000 monetized streams according to several respondents on Reddit and Indie musicians.
In general, it is still in the same range as Spotify. An expected payout can range from $0. 0025 to $0. 004 per stream. So for every 1000 plays, you’d receive between $2. 50–$4. 00.
How to Boost your Music and Brand with SoundCloud
If you want to give your music a bigger boost and exposure apart from Spotify and SoundCloud, we have a suggestion. One way to show the world your music or your musical brand is by building your own domain. With your own online presence, you could reach thousands of people.
However, SoundCloud’s payout might be insufficient if you are new.
Therefore I would suggest artists, podcasters, and composers use software platforms like Buzzsprout which allows you to upload, host, and promote your content. They also offer a $20 Amazon Gift Card if you decide to sign up for their paid plans, which you can receive after the second paid invoice.
And of course, let’s not forget the biggest source of online entertainment with 1. 8 billion users, Youtube.
Lastly, one of the best ways to promote yourself, your brand, band, or podcast is by building your own website with your chosen domain name. This way, your audience and internet browsers can find you and get to know more about you through your website. That is why I’d recommend using Bluehost, to start a website in about 15 minutes.
There are plenty of other platforms and ways to monetize your voice. But at the end of the day, it all comes down to marketing yourself, which is why it’s so important to have your own website.
At the end of the day, whatever you do, do it with a passion!
I’d suggest taking the first step with Bluehost to launch your website. This way a lot of people can find you or your musical brand on Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, or Yandex if they search for you.
Final Advice to Boost your Streaming on SoundCloud
If you’re looking to make money off your music, we would definitely reconsider using SoundCloud alone. If you are a beginner, the best way is to make use of other services like Distrokid, Stem, Audiomack, or CDBaby to get your music out to as many people as possible.
SoundCloud is not meant to be a musician’s sole income source. Why? This is only worth it if you have several hundreds of thousands of streams every month. Otherwise, your income, (calculating the deduction of hosting) will be very minimal and not worth the effort. While you may earn $15 for, let’s say 5000 monthly streams, you have to expect the cost of hosting and the time you put into your music.
Conclusion
SoundCloud is a huge streaming platform that competes head-to-head with Spotify for the top spot. However, with all its attention, it is not the highest paying streaming platform for artists, podcasters, or any other content creators. That does not mean, it should be avoided! On the contrary, with such an enormous audience, even if you reach a few thousand streamers, you can still earn a decent sum for your efforts.
Frequently Asked Questions about more soundcloud plays
Can you fake SoundCloud plays?
The SoundCloud user who played the track is a real person, who chose to listen to your music of his or her own accord. That person might make music, or they might not. A fake SoundCloud play, on the other hand, is one that you buy. They come from bots, or fake profiles whose only purpose is to provide that service.Feb 14, 2017
How much does SoundCloud pay for 1000 streams?
An expected payout can range from $0.0025 to $0.004 per stream. So for every 1000 plays, you’d receive between $2.50–$4.00.Apr 2, 2020
How much is 100k plays on SoundCloud?
Following this you can get 5000 SoundCloud plays for 8.90 dollars, 20,000 SoundCloud plays for 24.90 dollars, and 100,000 SoundCloud plays for only 74.90 dollars. There are various plans in between these as well and you are free to customize them as per your needs.Aug 4, 2021