Comprehensive SoundCloud Review 2024: Pricing, Features & Everything You Need to Know
Top Reason to Choose Soundcloud
Discovery and increased rates. SoundCloud promises to deliver your first 100 streams through an algorithmic boost that will land your track in the music recommendations of its users. It’s like Spotify’s Discovery Mode but without any requirements other than distributing music through SoundCloud. One of the two biggest pain points with music distribution is Discovery and this feature addresses that. Consider it a springboard because if people respond to your music positively, it’ll make its way into more recommendations which could result in far more than 100 streams. If you’re setting up distribution and searching the internet for information on how to get your music heard, this feature is for you.
SoundCloud isn’t a distribution company, it’s a music streaming service that does music distribution. Long considered the YouTube of audio, this distinction is what makes it uniquely positioned to deliver on such a promise as getting your music its first 100 streams. Additionally, when you sign up for distribution through SoundCloud, you’re signing up for Next Pro which bundles other SoundCloud features with distribution. With your SoundCloud bundle comes the ability to master 3 tracks per month, gain access to advanced audience insights, private track uploads, fan messaging, ability to submit music to the SoundCloud SiriusXM radio station, and increase SoundCloud royalties through their Fan-powered model.
Top Features
Audience Insights
Audience insights with SoundCloud are incredibly powerful because unlike most of its competitors in the streaming market, Spotify, Apple Music, etc. it tells you who’s streaming your music and not just where. You can see a girl named Julie from Omaha has been streaming your song 30 times a week. Its features open the door to better relationship building because not only can you message Julie directly, but you have the option of taking a subtler approach by doing something like giving her a shoutout in SoundCloud’s Timed comments. Additionally, you have an opportunity to gain further insight into the interest of your listeners by visiting their profiles and seeing which other artists they’re fanning out on, visit their connected social media accounts to see what their interests are beyond music, etc. You can use it to gain a full-picture understanding of the listeners that are most passionate about your music.
Fan-Powered Royalties
With Fan-Powered-Royalties the revenue generated by individual listeners gets divided between the artists they stream. A user paying $10 a month for a subscription to SoundCloud Go that streams your music 90% of the time would have 90% of their $10 subscription fee go to you. Building a catalog and a fanbase to consume it could allow you to make a living off of your music through SoundCloud alone.
Internal Advertising
You can run targeted ads on SoundCloud to drive streams of your track using Promoted Tracks. This has your song appear at the top of the Feeds of SoundCloud users who can stream it, heart it, Repost it, and take all the normal actions they could take with any other track that’s listed in their feed. What’s key, is that everyone you reach with an ad on SoundCloud is a SoundCloud user and if they’re checking their music Feed, they’re likely a dedicated user which means longterm activity if they like your song and add it to their libraries. With Facebook ads, artists hope the people they reach are subscribed to one streaming platform or another and that they’ll go there to listen to their music. The reality is, most people aren’t subscribed to anything which leads to spending major money for minor returns. This remedies that.
Details
SoundCloud
Price - Annual fee
Price per release
Price - Revenue split
Stores
Beatport is a very important store for EDM aritsts and not all distributors send music to it because of the level of set up. Some distributors charge a monthly fee to send music to the store while others roll it into their standard service. The difference between the two options is that a monthly fee will get you a dedicated Label account on Beatport exclusive to your releases. Distributors that send your music to Beatport as part of their service have their distribution companies registered as Labels with the platform and will list your music under their Label.
Beatport
New Stores
Pre-orders
Digital booklets allow you to add something extra to incentivise sales. You can provide buyers with a PDF document containing images, lyrics, thoughts about each track, etc. The PDF would come attached with downloads on iTunes.
Digital Booklets
Dolby Atmos
Custom Label Name
Some distributors restrict you from distributing music for more than one Primary artist. This is a rule to prevent users from building a distribution service on top of the one they're using. When collaborating with other artists you may want to list them as Primary artists while not functioning like a label where you don't plan to dsitribute music for them, you just effectively want to feature them on the release. You shouldn't have to pay for that, but some distributors will charge you. Make sure you view our blog for detailed reviews
Primary Artist
Content-id is a process where an audio fingerprint is created of your song file and a system is ran that scans YouTube and other platforms for matches. If matches are discovered on YouTube, ads are placed on the content and the revenue from the ads are paid out to the distributor, which pays the artist. It's primarily for third party content that's unauthorized but artists commonly use it to monetize channels that don't qualify for the YouTube Partner Program. Check our guide for the best way to monetize YouTube Distributors normally charge a fee between 20 - 30% of revenue and the feature can discourage the free promotion that you'd get from users sharing your music on the platform so it's arguable as to whether it should be activated.
Content ID
Will the distributor remove your music if you cancel your subscription or no longer can afford to pay?
Music Stays Live
Split Pay
Classical
Music Video
Customer Support
A transaction fee is charged every time an artist withdraws their funds. It's a percentage of the amount withdrawn that's charged by the payment gateway that processes the transaction. Different payment gateways charge different fees. The most common gateway is PayPal which charges 2.9% of each transaction.
ACH direct bank transfers usually have reduced fees or no fees at all. These fees can work out to be an additional subscription fee. For example:
Artist withdraws $1,000/Month
Artist pays 2.9%
That amounts to a $29 subscription fee on top of the subscription fee paid to the distributor.
In this scenario, the artist would end up paying $348 in additional fees.
Capped fees means the distribute imposes a maximum where you'll never pay more than that amount. If the distributor says 2.9% up to $0.25 like Tunecore does, it means you'll never pay more than 25¢ in transaction fees.
Transaction Fees
Payment Threshold
Minimum amount required to receive a payment
Countries without a US Tax-treaty are subject to a 30% tax withholding. View your country's tax status here
Tax-Treaty
Requires taking a photo of your ID + a Selfie (less likely). This positions your distributor to doxx you to DSPs and could result in bans being tied to your personal identity if you're ever accused of streaming fraud or any other violation.
KYC
What you're charged per accusation of streaming fraud
Artificial Streaming Fee
Some distributors have Exclusive agreements in their Artist Agreements. These terms allow the distributor to dictate where you can place your music online and strip away your independence. It's advised you seek to avoid distributors with Exclusive terms.
Exclusivity
Does the distributor have to pay a third party for facilitating distribution? If yes, this means you don't keep 100% of your royalties. Instead, your royalties are split between you, the third party, and your distributor.
Direct Deals
We rate distributors on a scale of 1-5 based on transaparency, customer support, how they handle payment, stores, features, and longetivity.Visit our Blog for all music distributor reviews
Payusnomind Rating
Details
$99 Annually
None
20% of Revenue
Unlimited
Yes
Yes - Manual
No
No
Yes
Yes
Free: Unlimited
20% of Royalties
Not - specified so assume it won’t
Yes
Yes
No
Email- General
No dedicated customer support rep
Commonly 2.9% uncapped for PayPal or $1+ for ACH direct deposit into your bank account in the US and more for outside of the US
Not specified
$25
Yes - Subject to 30% Tax
No
Yes
No
Undisclosed
