SoundCloud turns to music distribution

The service is accessible to artists on the SoundCloud Pro and SoundCloud Pro Unlimited packages.

“Get your music on every major music service including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Instagram, Spotify and YouTube Music," SoundCloud announced on Tuesday. “As the only place you can distribute directly from your account, we’re excited to provide you with a one-stop shop for sharing your work and getting payouts from all major music services.”

Revenue from external plays would be paid to the artist. “Keep 100% of your payouts (SoundCloud takes nothing),” the platform said.

Since its founding in 2007, SoundCloud has become a resource for Internet-minded artists, some finding fame and a loyal following via the platform. When news of SoundCloud potentially closing surfaced two years ago, some African artists lamented. “Really if SoundCloud shuts down I’m done releasing music,” Nigerian act Lady Donli tweeted at the time.” But the platform survived and now it could become a favourite tool for those who want to expand their online presence.

“Only SoundCloud empowers creators with a unified platform to instantly upload and share, connect with fans in real-time and get paid for their work everywhere – both on SoundCloud and across other leading music services,” SoundCloud CEO Kerry Trainor said. “Creators can now spend less time and money jumping between different tools, and more time making music, connecting with fans and growing their careers first on SoundCloud.”  

In October last year, SoundCloud announced a monetisation opportunity for artists using its Pro and Pro Unlimited services. “Hundreds of thousands of independent creators can start getting paid for their streams,” a blog post by the company said.

Initially available only to users with above 5 000 plays in selected Western countries, an expansion was promised. Subsequently, artists on the platform were able to receive payments based “on your pro rata share of 55% of net advertising and subscription revenues received by SoundCloud that are allocable to plays of controlled works”.

With yesterday’s SoundCloud Premier announcement, eligible acts are able to retain the rights to their music along with all royalty proceeds from external services without paying distribution fees. In an interview with Billboard, Trainor explained the idea behind the new arrangement. “We want to be the first place that creators come to share their work with the world,” he said.