How To Succeed On Soundcloud

With hundreds of thousands of fans using the platform, Soundcloud is an important place to build an audience. But with tens of thousands of artists active there, how do you not get lost in the shuffle? Soundcloud offers some tips.

Make sure your profile is up to date

Keep your profile pic current – unless your seventh grade school photo is the kind of look you’re going for.
Use your top banner image as a shout out for whatever you’re currently promoting – a new album, tour dates, new track, etc.
List your social media accounts and contact information in your profile description.
Link your tour dates to Songkick and Bandpage.
Highlight your top tracks using our Spotlight feature (you will need a Pro & Pro Unlimited account for this).

Drill down into SoundCloud stats and learn about top-listening countries, cities, what websites are playing your tracks, and where your listeners are located.

Study your stats to help with radio, brand, touring and advertising opportunities AKA know where you should go.
“Top country” data can be used to help pitch a new artist to a bigger name act on tour.
“Top city” data can be used as leverage for radio stations to play a new developing artist.
“Top listeners” can be your digital street team and used to help promote contests and network with fans.
“Top Websites” can be used to evaluate online reach as well as advertising plans.

Engage with people you collaborate with as well as other users

Follow the artists that you have worked with on a track. They are now your family. Get to know them.
Repost or Like tracks by other artists that you’re featured on. The feeling could get mutual.
Create playlists to help fans learn about your catalog and hook them into other artists you like.

Some SoundCloud Marketing Basics

Use these ideas to kickstart your own marketing campaign and get your SoundCloud tracks in front of the widest audience possible.

Announcements

Record an audio announcement about a tour or new music and upload it to your SoundCloud account. Make sure to encourage fans to follow your profile for updates.

Giveaways

SoundCloud’s stats mean that you have information on which of your fans stream your tracks the most. Run a contest where the person who streams a new track on SoundCloud the most in a week wins a prize. Make sure the prize is legitimate and it can actually get to the winner.

Teaser Previews

Upload a sample of a track and later replace the audio with the full version. Fan engagement on the original upload will stick since only the audio is being replaced.

Twitter Q&A/Ask Me Anything

Engage with fans on social media and get them to ask questions. Provide the answers on SoundCloud as an audio recording.

Direct message fans or record private audio tracks to send to them

Use the SoundCloud direct message feature to directly communicate with fans. You can also use real time comments on tracks as a way to be engage with fans individually.

via Soundcloud