So you’ve finished all your tracks, and you’ve even edited them the best you could. All that’s left is to share them with the rest of the world. Lucky for you, it’s much easier to share your music today compared to any other time.

These days, you don’t have to send demo tapes to record companies and wonder if you’ll ever hear from them. You don’t even have to join singing contests and perform other people’s songs instead of your own.

Today, there are many tools at your disposal online, and one of the best is SoundCloud.

The Wonders of SoundCloud

Image credit: Billboard

There’s been some dispute regarding just how effective SoundCloud is overall. However, there’s also no denying that it has made life easier for many aspiring musicians. Here are just some of the benefits of using SoundCloud:

• It exposes artists to thousands of active users, a number of whom could serve as their initial fan base. These followers can also serve as the first people to promote an artist's music.
• Artists can make money off their uploaded tracks. They may not get royalties, like artists signed under record companies do, but they could still be compensated if they sell their tracks in SoundCloud's monetization program.
• Musicians can also interact and potentially collaborate with other artists, especially those that already have a large following. The increased exposure will surely attract new users to their profile.

If that doesn’t convince you, then how about knowing that artists like Post Malone, Kehlani, and Don Monique all started out on SoundCloud? And now they are some of the biggest names in the music industry. Yes, if you play your cards right and keep improving your music, you can also make it big just like they did.

So, how do you make your mark in the music industry through SoundCloud like them? Here are some powerful ways to get your music heard on SoundCloud.

1. Spruce Up Your Profile

Image credit: Post Malone

A little bit of branding can go a long way to make your music stand out. Just like many of the big name artists carefully design their album covers, you too can design your profile picture and background image.

This is just one way to make your profile more eye-catching. Another purpose of this strategy is to make your profile easier to remember, to create a brand image for yourself. Your profile should leave an impression on users, and you better make sure you’re leaving a good one.

Being extreme or almost-explicit is a great way to be remembered, à la Cardi B:

Image credit: Cardi B

2. Create and Design an Album Cover

If you have multiple tracks, this is the perfect chance to be even more creative. Use this opportunity to capture a bigger audience by creating an album.

Afterwards, make sure to get some well-designed album art to go along with it. It’s worth spending the time to get it right yourself, or hiring a talented artist to do this.

Image credit: Kodak Black

Aside from the fact that this marks a compilation of your songs, this will also serve as a guide for people for where to look for your music. Lastly, whenever one of your tracks is linked on a site or blog, the art should usually automatically appear on that page.

3. Buy SoundCloud Plays

One great tactic to increase your audience, improve your engagement, and get more attention to your tracks is to buy SoundCloud Plays. Although these bought Plays won't directly lead to you making money or gaining fans, they will increase the perceived level of engagement and interest in your music.

This will encourage more people to check out your page and listen to your music, and this will indirectly lead to you gaining more followers and fans — as long as they like your music, of course.

Just take a bit of time to read some of our reviews of the top providers of SoundCloud Plays to make sure you're working with a trustworthy company that will deliver exactly what they offer, with no hassle.

4. Tag Your Songs

If you are new to SoundCloud, then this is definitely a feature you should learn about and take advantage of. For starters, it’s one way for you to point out the genre of your music, which makes it easier for other users to find your tracks.

A SoundCloud tag search

This is a good way of establishing your sound among the huge population of artists on the platform. Aside from the genre, another common practice on SoundCloud is to tag the mood of your music. Think of this as a creative way for audiences to get to know your unique sound.

5. Add Relevant Links

If you have other social media accounts, such as Facebook, Twitter, and even Youtube, make sure to include links to those other accounts in your profile. Do the same for your website, and any other pages you want to direct your listeners to.

This way, users have other means to follow and get in touch with you. It will also help increase the number of followers to your other accounts.

Image credit: Kodak Black

And if you are also interested in earning a bit of money (who isn't?), try including buy links, at least on some of the tracks at first. You may not earn royalties like artists signed under recording studios, but at least you’ll be earning something from your music.

6. Monitor Your Analytics

Image credit: SoundCloud Blog

Make sure to check up on the number of follows, likes, shares, reposts, and even the chart activity of your songs. This is important in order to figure out how you can boost your engagement and increase traffic to your profile.

This will help you determine which tracks are being listened to more than the others. You can then use this information to boost traffic to your future songs and your profile in general.

7. Connect with Fans and Other Artists

As mentioned earlier, one way to increase your followers is to connect or collaborate with more well-known artists on SoundCloud. This way, their fan base will be exposed your music — if they like what they hear, they’ll follow your account and share your tracks.

Never forget to interact with your own followers consistently, and ask for feedback from them. Doing so makes them more loyal to you and also boosts your image.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons

Your Music Is Just The Start

Just like any online platform, there are quite a few time-tested strategies you can try in order to make the most of your SoundCloud experience. If you follow these tips, you can certainly boost your profile and engagement with followers.

Granted that it would take some time and some legwork, but at least it’s a stepping stone to sharing your music — and anything worth doing takes time and effort. But even if you master all the SoundCloud strategies out there (as well as those of other social media networks), it won't matter if your music isn’t up to par.

While it is important to establish an online profile to kickstart your music career, don’t forget the basics. You still need to hone your skills and extract your creative juices. After all, why would you expect people to listen if they don’t even like your songs?

You can augment all your hard work by purchasing SoundCloud Plays to boost your profile stats. This will attract more attention to your music, and if all those new listeners like what they hear they'll be eager to follow your account and hear more. Encourage them to share it with their friends, and you'll be off and running.

Remember, SoundCloud is simply a tool to expose your music. In order to attract a huge organic following, your music has to speak for itself. Otherwise, you’ll just be creating an account to listen to other people’s work, instead of creating a following for yourself.

Image credit: Wise Bread

Date: October 17, 2017 / Categories: Getting Discovered, / Author: Alex