How to get bigger on SoundCloud
Image Credit: SoundCloud
Try these tips to increase your plays and get more followers on SoundCloud, for free.
Wondering how to get free plays on SoundCloud? Make great music and promote your SoundCloud profile the right way, and you’ll see results.
Before you pay for promotion on SoundCloud, check out these ideas.
Boost your search potential
Give SoundCloud as much information about your track as possible. Putting the right genre and track tags will give your music the best chance of being seen on the Discover tab. Fans will find you if you tag by mood, location, BPM, and other more niche genre tags.
Optimise your profile for SEO so your music will appear first on search results. Make sure you put your artist name in the URL of your profile as well as in the body of your bio.
Keeping up appearances
Make your profile stand out by choosing a great profile picture and header for your profile. The profile description should tell the story of who you are as an artist, and track descriptions should be in depth and encourage listeners to hit that repost button. Now is not the time to be shy!
Find your network
SoundCloud was built on allowing anyone to upload music and discover new artists. It’s easy to connect with similar creators, and finding and following other SoundCloud artists means that they’ll listen to your music and follow you back in turn.
Interact with them, offering your feedback on their tracks. Why not offer to remix a track, or reach out for a collaboration?
Building a supportive network on the platform is a great way to turn followers into genuine fans – and listening to other music is the best way to get inspired and grow as an artist.
Branch outside of SoundCloud
Promotion happens everywhere, and social media is the best free marketing that you don’t have to buy. Constantly share your SoundCloud tracks across your social media profiles.
Create dedicated artist accounts on the likes of Instagram and Twitter, promote your music on TikTok, and make an artist website. Keep the same artist name and picture wherever you appear across the web to build a recognizable brand.
Don’t stop at uploading your music to SoundCloud. With RouteNote you can get your songs onto all the major streaming platforms for free. You’ll give your music a far better chance of being heard, and your online presence will be given a boost that will filter through to your SoundCloud plays.
Promotion
Find repost channels on SoundCloud, get in touch with playlist curators and music bloggers, and pitch your tracks for the chance to be featured. They’ll send your tracks out to their followers.
Find out the email contact of curators and send a personalised message or press release with your SoundCloud link. The personalisation part is key here; these tastemakers get hundreds of emails a day, and you need to stand out, not just copy and paste the same thing to everyone you contact.
Keep your page updated
We’ve all been there. You get inspired and excited about a release, get a burst of creative energy, and then once the initial hype has died off you lose interest. Before you know it, half a year has passed with no updates on your SoundCloud.
Sadly it’s not enough to upload one great song and sit back and wait for success. Keep on uploading music, from demo songs to remixes of your old tracks. If it’s good, people will keep coming back for more. While it can be hard to maintain momentum, having an updated profile will push your discoverability up, as well as making you seem more professional as an artist.
And from a creator’s point of view maintaining a constant flow of music making will help to keep yourself motivated. You’ll find you improve with practice, too, and better music can only mean more fans.