SoundCloud is not a direct income service for artists, but it is a very convenient service that can be used to attract fans and discover new music, because it is used by many people around the world.
You can use it as a place to promote your music or send a demo to a label or artist using the private settings, so let’s put it to good use and make it more and more useful for your musical endeavors.
You can upload your own original songs and invite your fans to download them for free on SoundCloud. If fans are going to SoundCloud, that can be used as a lead to a sales site, but the answer to the question “Can songs be sold on SoundCloud?” – “Not”. In order for your fans to be able to download your tracks, on the Edit Songs screen, go to Permissions and check the Enable direct download box to allow third party downloads. At this time, a note highlighted in red right below it says “Make sure you have all rights to the music.”
Downloading and distributing released songs by other artists is illegal, so you need to make them your own original songs. If you just download a remix that includes copyright, this won’t be a big problem, but be careful with your download settings.
SoundCloud has been endorsed by all creators around the world as a platform where artists can freely publish and promote their music. Since its inception, SoundCloud has expanded audience reach and community building by expanding useful features (embedding, analyzing, reposting, etc.) that artists, labels, and listeners can use before engaging in their own sales.
On the other hand, SoundCloud does not pay labels or publishers royalties for using songs. It was also unclear how to deal with songs that are illegal in terms of copyright. The relationship between SoundCloud, which freely publishes remixed songs from major labels, and the label is a big gray area compared to YouTube.
SoundCloud has been working to improve services for creators and record labels for years, with no focus on monetization (which works with paid accounts). For many creators, SoundCloud is an advertising platform where you can publish and share sound sources freely, and is also used as a music marketing tool for labels.
However, since its inception in 2007, SoundCloud has raised $123.3 million and its corporate value has grown to over ten billion dollars. And recently, as part of solidifying its global strategy, SoundCloud is testing the monetization of Martist-hosted music content.
In order for SoundCloud to continue to be a platform to support creators, we must first clarify the content removal process in a transparent manner. Since music services are a relatively new business model, mutual trust cannot be built unless the business operator and artists communicate their approach to business and their thoughts on the impact on users and stakeholders in the music industry to each other.
