Whether you’re a rapper, singer, or musician, getting SoundCloud plays can be a terrific way to get noticed, make money, and build your brand. You might even get contacted by a record company or a music industry executive if you’re lucky.
SoundCloud is an open audio platform that was launched in 2007. It’s easy to use and it gives you a wide range of statistics that will help you find out how well you’re doing. It is a tool to help audio creators grow their portfolios, and possibly their careers.
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How to get more plays on SoundCloud?
SoundCloud is a great place to grow your fan base, promote your music, and market your brand. If you’re a label looking for a new music artist or a website to target for your next marketing campaigns, SoundCloud is a great option.
In this guide, we’re going to go over how SoundCloud counts plays, how to get more plays for free, why you should avoid directly buying SoundCloud plays and a breakdown of how much money you can make on those plays.
How does SoundCloud count plays?
The basics of counting plays are that once the play button is clicked and music plays, one play is recorded. Whether it is recording in real-time or within 24-hours depends on if the person listening is logged into a SoundCloud account or not. And, for the record, plays that you start on your own content are not counted.
How to get SoundCloud plays for free?
1. Interest listeners in your work by having catchy album covers, track titles, and playlist titles.
The artwork should be eye-catching and high resolution, and you should always give your playlists, tracks, and albums descriptions that stand out as well. Many unknown artists have gained a ton of SoundCloud plays just by having interesting artwork and song titles.
2. Build your own discography.
This will allow you to showcase all of your works in a fun little catalog. This catalog of your work should be listed by date as it will allow your fans to find the work that interests them easier.
3. Create a website set up to go alongside your SoundCloud.
It can be on a blog or your own hosted portfolio. Make sure to try to capture the email address of each fan. Sending out one email a month to your fanbase will get you more plays, and there are plenty of free website creators and hosts to choose from.
4. Share your work on social media.
If your music is really good, you don’t have to spam anyone, just be consistent in sharing your work on your favorite social network. If others in your circle really like it, they will share it and it can even lead to you going viral. Having an active social media account is also a good way to get noticed by record labels.
Does buying SoundCloud plays work?
Buying SoundCloud plays is not recommended, as it is not acceptable on the platform. Beyond that, scammers are everywhere and SoundCloud is no exception. While there may be some legit companies out there, many are just looking to take your money and give you nothing in return.
As a creator, you should be seeking to organically create a fanbase by releasing high-quality content. If you’re weighing the pros and cons, the cons clearly outweigh the pros. Fake likes and comments will only get you so far.
Another reason to avoid buying plays is that it will make it more difficult for you to know your audience as the plays are not targeted. It’s important to know who really likes to listen to your music and where they live. While buying SoundCloud plays will boost your play count, it will do nothing for you in the long run and it will harm your ability to analyze your audience.
Should I get SoundCloud Pro Unlimited?
If you are serious about getting more SoundCloud plays then it’s recommended that you get SoundCloud Pro Unlimited. The basic SoundCloud plan is free, but only offers 3 hour upload time, limited stats, and the ability to do some customization to the embedded player.
The SoundCloud Pro Unlimited plan comes with unlimited upload times, scheduled releases, full stats, full embed controls, spotlight capabilities, replace tracks, quiet mode, access the monetization, and more. SoundCloud Pro, the third plan, is in-between free and Pro Unlimited.
The faster upload times that are provided by the Pro plans allow you to get your music out there faster, and Pro users can have more downloads available to their fans, which means their music will be heard more. A pro plan is also essential to have if you want to earn money from your SoundCloud plays.
How to get paid for SoundCloud plays?
SoundCloud opened a monetization program in 2014 but it was only available to certain artists and only on an invite-only basis. The company decided to open up its monetization program to the public in 2018.
To qualify for Soundcloud Premier, you must have a Pro or Pro Unlimited account with at least 5,000 views. Your account must not have any strikes against it, and you have to be 18 years old.
SoundCloud pays eligible artists directly on a monthly basis.
How much does SoundCloud pay per stream?
The amount of money SoundCloud pays artists is based on a share of the company’s total revenue. The amount of money you will earn per stream will vary from month to month. This means that with SoundCloud, music artists are treated as partners.
The more fans who stream your content, the larger your share of SoundCloud’s revenue will be. However, the number of plays it takes to earn a certain amount of money will vary.
