How to Make Money on SoundCloud?
Today, all musicians who start their music careers are seeking a platform or a website to publish their songs. They want to show their presence, expand their audience, and become recognizable in the music community. SoundCloud is one of the most popular music platforms where enthusiasts publish their content and build a name.
Still, people want more than just an opportunity to make their content public. They expect to get compensation for the listening of their song. Everyone who comes on SoundCloud first time asks the same question: can you create money on SoundCloud? It’s not only about classic monetization when you receive revenue per stream. It’s also about alternative methods you can use to earn money from your songs. Of course, you won’t be able to touch the level of 21 Savage or Traviss Scott, but you will significantly increase your income and possibly invest in content creation to achieve new heights. Keep reading as we will reveal the most effective monetization methods on SoundCloud. You will find out how much SoundCloud pay per stream and how much you can earn from other methods.
SoundCloud Payout per Stream
There’s a fixed price per stream based on the region you are located.
First, we should understand the paying model of SoundCloud. The platform pays per music stream only if the country they are located in is available for monetization. The payout ranges from $0,0025 to 0,004 per 1 stream. It means you can get no more than $4 per 1000 streams.
Still, monetization is not becoming available immediately after joining the platform. To have the ability to earn from your music, you have to join SoundCloud Pro Unlimited. This is not a free service as you need to pay 4,99 per month. At the same time, you get access to such options:
- Upload tracks without limits
- Receive detailed insights
- Use the SoundCloud promotion tool
- Replace songs without losing stats
You have more options to track the activity of your audience and analyze the stats. You can see what songs get the most streams and promote them instead of those that have bad performances.
How can SoundCloud Payout Change?
It’s essential to know that the final calculation of your revenue can change due to several factors. From distribution revenue to the subscription fee, the final calculation can change. Let’s have a look at factors that impact your payment per streaming on SoundCloud.
- Advertising. Once you become a member of SoundCloud Pro Unlimited, you gain access to the advertising features. This feature increases income because of the revenue you get from advertising. The platform almost doubles your income as you pay off the price of the monthly subscription.
- SoundCloud Repost. This feature increases your income by offering additional revenue for distribution not only on SoundCloud but on other platforms as well. Reposted tracks appear on top of your feed, so more people can see them.
- Distribution. Collaboration with other musicians directly affects how much you will earn per stream. The platform may take part in your total earnings, lowering your final earnings.
- Cooperation with performing rights organizations. Once you connect with a performing rights organization (PRO), you can get additional royalties for your streams. All you need to do is to ensure you register your songs correctly.
How to Understand How Much Can You Earn?
To increase earnings on SoundCloud, users should engage with their audience, post content regularly, and explore additional revenue streams like live streaming, subscriptions, and merchandise sales.
When users discover their capabilities to earn with their tracks, they want to know the exact numbers. They want to know how much SoundCloud pays them. There are some basic moves you can perform to know what’s your income on the platform.
First, monitor the audience engagement. Check the number of listens, likes, and other activities users perform. Second, be proactive. If you constantly post content on the platform, you remain visible to listeners and build trustworthy with your audience. People will know when to expect your next song. Finally, don’t limit yourself. Expand your earning capabilities by launching a live music stream on YouTube, offering paid subscriptions, selling merchandise, and doing other things that will expand your revenue.
Music streaming is only an option to earn on SoundCloud. As soon as you add new earning options to your arsenal, you will see how much you can make.
Sell Your Music on Sellfy
Sellfy makes your music distribution pretty simple and makes music monetization more effective
Every track you create is a product, and you can sell it in an online store. Sellfy is an e-commerce platform where you offer users to purchase your digital products, including songs, mixtapes, and even albums. Combined with SoundCloud payout per stream, your income will grow.
Create an account (Sellfy offers a 14-day free trial), and add your products to the page. Create a fancy product page, adding a description, and a picture that resonates with the product to make a proper presentation. Customize the product page the way you want by using all the available instruments. Remember to add the payment method (PayPal or Stripe) and get ready to receive notifications about the first purchases. To make your store page visible, add it to the profile description.
Take Advantage of the Cross-Platform Promotion
Use other platforms to share your SoundCloud profile
To earn on SoundCloud, you have to make people listen to your songs on SoundCloud. The more people know about you, the more listens your tracks will have. The most effective method of cross-platform sharing is to create a link tree and add it to your bio on Instagram, Facebook, and other social media you use. When users open this link tree, they see links to all platforms where they can listen to your tracks, including SoundCloud.
A link tree of Traviss Scott. One of the links leads to his SoundCloud profile
Social media drive tons of traffic. Use it as an advantage to get more listens and increase your audience on SoundCloud. If you are going to release a new track, you can launch a powerful campaign using all platforms you have. Create posts revealing the name of the track and the album it will belong to, and mention the exact day this song will become available on SoundCloud.
To make your promotion more effective, use the SoundCloud promotion package to get more plays. Experts will bring organic plays and make your music stand out. You can also have country-targeted plays that will trigger listeners from your country. You will receive a serious boost and push your music to higher rankings.
In the video below, the author talks about additional steps you can take to get more followers, increase engagement, and earn on streams. For example, you can create remixes and covers. In that case, a part of the revenue goes to the author.
Take Advantage of SoundCloud’s Analytics
To maximize your earnings on SoundCloud, you should analyze your activity and track changes. When you see what’s happening and how exactly the situation changes, you can change tactics and try new music promotion methods. Analytic tools are variable and offer multiple options to analyze information:
- Detailed SoundCloud performance analysis.
- Providing insights about tracks of various durations.
- Analyzing SoundCloud plays and providing comprehensive data reports.
- Stats about followers (comparing your growth dynamics to the industry’s average)
- Overview of your tracks (average playtime, number of plays, etc.).
SoundCloud analytics has a simple interface divided into blocks. You can find top tracks, listeners, and locations where your music was listened to.
SoundCloud – A Place to Drive Your Music Career
SoundCloud is not just a platform for Music distribution. This is where you can build your career from zero and become a recognizable person with a good income. You can expand your presence and appear on multiple platforms, sharing your music simultaneously, which is impactful.
Still, if you are focused on SoundCloud and want to understand how to earn from listening on this platform, you should understand what impacts monetization and what you can do to get higher revenue. Pay attention to the core points we’ve mentioned, especially about regular activity. Before you become popular and get a large audience, it’s essential to post content regularly. Later you will come up with a posting schedule and release tracks at a specific time every week and every month.
How much can you earn per 1 million streams on SoundCloud?
1 million streams will bring you approximately $7,000. The final payout depends on the country you are located in and the rate you have there.
Does SoundCloud bring you more revenue than Spotify?
On SoundCloud, you earn only 80% of all royalties you receive on the platform while Spotify gives you 100%.
Is SoundCloud good for User Generated Content?
SoundCloud is considered one of the best services for streaming User Generated Content.