Uncovering the SoundCloud Algorithm

SoundCloud has become some kind of a haven for artists and musicians. While the landscape of the music industry and the music distribution scene has changed a lot over the past few years, SoundCloud remains one of the top platforms in the industry.

The days of putting your song on SoundCloud and crossing your fingers are over. Instead, you should employ a cross-platform, multi-pronged strategy that makes full use of the analytical, distributional, and promotional resources at your disposal.

But just what kinds of strategies and promotional resources are we talking about here? Finally, what can be done to increase one’s popularity on SoundCloud? 

To help you get started, I’ve written this article with the following information: 

What is the SoundCloud algorithm, and how does it work? How to take your visibility on SoundCloud to the next level with the help of organic SoundCloud promotion tips and strategies.

How Does The SoundCloud Algorithm Work?

Why would you even care about its algorithm? This’s an easy question to answer. Once you know how it works, you will learn how to use it to make your music popular. 

Even though we don’t think SoundCloud is nearly as complicated as a site like YouTube, it does use an algorithm to help figure out which songs are the most popular and give users more relevant results when they search for something. 

SoundCloud doesn’t provide any detailed instructions on how it determines music rankings, although the ‘Discorank’ algorithm has been referenced in many online articles. Our (very) preliminary analysis suggests that this mechanism is quite comparable to Google’s PageRank algorithm.

Discorank is also expected to play a significant role in the ranking elements of Charts, and Related Tracks, two of the most important SoundCloud features released in the past several years.

In the video below, the author reveals effective tactics that allow you to unlock the full potential of the SoundCloud algorithm and make your music promotion more effective.

Push your songs to the SoundCloud charts

SoundCloud’s Charts section features the songs that have been earning the most plays and attention on the service during a given week. According to SoundCloud’s own recommendations, here are some ways to rise to the top of your chosen genre’s chart:

“If you are a creator and you’re keen to get your track trending, we recommend genuine interactions with your followers and promotion of the track soon after you’ve uploaded it to increase your chances. It also helps to have the track tagged correctly with the genre you want it to appear in. The first tag should be the main genre, ideally taken from the list of genres shown in the charts.”

Based on their preferences and activity, the Related Tracks and Discover features recommend music the user may enjoy. 

An algorithm considers users’ past activity on the service to generate personalized playlist recommendations. This may happen for several reasons, such as when someone in your network likes a track when someone in your network starts following you, when someone in your network reposts a track, and so on.

These are the main features you need to know regarding SoundCloud’s algorithm. Constant Interaction is a key. To market your SoundCloud account successfully, you need to engage with other users on the platform, which is why the previous two features are so important. Interact with your followers and fellow creators to increase your profile’s worth. That way, you’ll have a better shot at being included in the charts and under-suggested tracks.

The number of your likes, plays, and followers means a lot and depends on how good you are at building your marketing strategies and interacting with your fanbase. This is what you need to get if your goal is to become a successful artist. 

Now, I’ll give you a few tips on how to do it. 

SoundCloud Promotion Tactics that will work

SoundCloud’s success is proportional to the quality of your social media approach. There is a multiplicative impact when you create a fan base across many platforms. For instance, you can share your music on SoundCloud, your videos on YouTube, your brand’s visual identity on Instagram, and your personal interactions with your audience on Twitter. If you get a new listener on one platform, they are more likely to follow you on the others.
Don’t forget to put links to your website and social media pages in your SoundCloud bio.

Collaborate with other musicians

Getting featured in other artists’ songs is one of the oldest tricks in the music industry’s book because collaboration is a driving over on platform for artists like SoundCloud. Features let you share your music with others and expand your fan base. There are a few tips and tricks that you might employ. If you’re a music producer, you might consider offering some of your beats for sale or even for free to active up-and-coming rappers on SoundCloud; just be sure that your sound complements their flow.

Adjust your SoundCloud profile for better performance

You can increase your SoundCloud account’s followers and even drive traffic to competing services like Spotify by doing a few easy actions. Some artists restrict access to only streaming. Yes, in some ways, that will limit the virality of your music because listeners won’t be able to download the songs and then re-upload them elsewhere online, but on the other side, you may expect an increase in the number of times your music is streamed. And it’s definitely what you need. 

Second, you have the option of restricting access to some of your material behind a paywall; for example, you may make your short-form releases (such as singles and b-sides) available for free on SoundCloud but charge for full access to your albums. That will force your listeners to seek you out on other services, most notably Spotify, but be wary—not all of your SoundCloud admirers will make the switch.

Understand when to post on the SoundCloud Platform

Consistency is the key when you want to share your music on a platform like SoundCloud. Still, you also should know when to upload music to SoundCloud. Understanding when to post allows you to get more listens to new music because the followers will immediately spot it. Below, you can find an optimal posting schedule for the EST time zone.

Use repost chains for organic SoundCloud promotion

Many channels may engage in “repost deals” or “repost chains” to boost their visibility. Though, you should be aware that this is something that often occurs between channels with a comparable amount of followers. So, if your channel has 1,000 followers and theirs has 100,000, the chances of striking up a repost exchange are minimal.

Add Hashtags to Make Your Music Visible

Now that SoundCloud has a “Discover” tab, the goal is to get your music featured in this new way for people to find it. 

Metadata allows you to do that. Tell SoundCloud about your music to give it the best chance of doing well on the platform.

How can you do this?

• Give your track a proper name
• Put some relevant track tags
• Correct genre tags
• Write the description
• Try to expose it and get more likes and comments. 

Pay attention to “Correct Genre tags.” This is probably one of the most essential things SoundCloud looks at when deciding where to put your music.

Share music via SoundCloud Groups

Even though it’s not as well-known as some of the platform’s other features and was turned off for a while in 2016, SoundCloud Groups is something every artist can use to increase their following on SoundCloud. Through SoundCloud Groups, anyone can share their music with people who like the same kinds of music and are interested in your genre. Using the Groups feature, you can get your name out there more and join a community that can help share and boost your marketing campaigns.

Make sure your Waveform tells a story.

Yes, SoundCloud lets your fans comment on your waveform, but you, as the person who made the music, should also do this. It’s a great way to find out what your listeners think and make them feel more like a community. If you’re not sure about a part of your track or if you’ve posted an unfinished track, comment on the waveform and ask people what they think. Getting people involved with your music is a great way to promote it.

Get people excited for your release.

Too many artists only focus on the day their music comes out. If you want more people to listen to your music, you should usually start promoting it at least two weeks before it comes out on all platforms, not just SoundCloud. 

You can use the “private links” feature, which is unique to SoundCloud, during this time. Put up your song about two to three weeks before it comes out, and make the link private instead of public. You can also schedule a release so that it goes from private to public on the day it’s supposed to.

In this list, I wasn’t writing much about the basic things you should take care of while promoting your tracks. But let me mention them briefly:

1. Put out your finest track possible because a mediocre one won’t get you very far. Making a song that is both catchy and memorable is the primary strategy for getting viral. 
2. You can see what’s popular right now by checking out the most-played songs on SoundCloud. Finding out what styles are popular at the moment will help you create a more commercially viable song. 
3. Make sure your songs are at the right length; three minutes is about average for a radio smash. If your songs are no longer than that, your audience won’t become bored. 
4. Tag your track with as many relevant, trending terms as you can find in the track description. With this, more people will hear your music. 
5. Put your five finest songs front and center by using the Spotlight function.

Get paid SoundCloud promotion

Promoting your music is crucial if you want to make a living as a musician, which you probably already know if you’re an aspiring artist. It’s a lot of work to figure out how to attract an audience. In addition to creating excellent music, independent musicians must also find a way to promote their music on platforms like SoundCloud. 

The problem is that an artist can be incredibly talented and have the potential to conquer the world with their music, but he doesn’t know how to make the world hear this music. This is the moment when he spends two, three, or four years trying to get more followers but gets stuck. 

Well, if you feel this way, or you understand that you can’t waste that much time and energy for nothing, do not get discouraged. There’s a way out. And this way out is paid SoundCloud promotion. With real SoundCloud promotion, you will get the exact level of exposure you need to build the career of your dream. And you know what’s even better? The fact that it’s an organic SoundCloud promotion. 

Real SoundCloud promotion

I’m saying that it’s hard to compete with other musicians when everyone else is employing extra marketing on SoundCloud. For sure, promotion is a crucial step, so don’t dismiss it, or you’ll miss out on a great opportunity. 

By claiming that you need a paid promotion, I mean that you will work with professionals, and you will only get real SoundCloud promotion. It will be organic, it will be fast, and it will be so much more effective than when you do it on your own. 

You just have to realize that the reason why your music isn’t standing out from the crowd is because everyone else is utilizing extra tools to promote it. If you only promote one song, you’ll see what a huge mistake it was to ignore serious SoundCloud promotion in the past, trust me. If you understand that you need organic SoundCloud promotion, you need more followers, likes, plays, etc., then you need to find a good SoundCloud promotion service.

Why is PromoSound an incredible service for your SoundCloud promotion?

I think I’ve made it clear that If you want your songs to be heard by other people on SoundCloud, you’ll have to put in some more work. Using specialized SoundCloud promotion services is the most effective method of increasing the number of followers on your SoundCloud.

Well, are you ready to play big? If you’re ready for a successful future, then you’re prepared to work with PromoSound. 

Why would you choose this service?

Easy. Because you can trust it. 

• Ten years of experience in the music industry.
• Only real professionals work on your promotion.
• The best support team is always ready to answer your questions.
• Real, fast, organic promotion.
• Hundreds of cost-effective promotional packages.

Now, let me tell you more about these packages. When PromoSound says it’s able to provide you with all the types of promotions you might need, it’s not a joke. 

Do you need more followers? Okay.

Plays or likes? No problem. 

What about reposts or Playlist PR? Yeah, sure.

Besides that, you can get a monthly subscription, album PR, learn some SoundCloud secrets, and even choose a whole package. 

For instance, you understand that now you don’t need specifically likes, followers, or plays. You need it all, you need them to grow together, and you don’t want to waste too much time on it. Well, then you can get a package. 

Trust me, you just have to take a look at the number of promotional strategies PromoSound offers, and you will be impressed. Once you buy a promotion from this service, you will ask yourself why didn’t you do it earlier. 

Just save your time and energy for something you really need it for, and let the professionals help you reach your goals. 

Unlock the Full Potential of the Soundcloud Algorithm

SoundCloud’s influence in the music industry cannot be overstated. Its promotion is not a new thing on the market. It is something that many people know about and use it. And it’s your time to start using it to the fullest. You must understand that your focus should be on the creation of a long-lasting successful musical career, and you must do everything to get to the point where you will realize you’ve reached everything you’ve ever wanted. 

So, I gave the best tips on successfully promoting yourself on SoundCloud. I hope you will use all the free tricks mentioned above in combination with paid SoundCloud promotion, and in no time, you will see real results.

Don’t waste your time, Star. Go get what you’re dreaming of!