The key to gaining new listeners may lie in your social media activity, in creating a unique look for your SoundCloud account, or engaging one-on-one with listeners at gigs. But usually it’s a combination of all of those elements, and a few others you may not have thought of before. The point of this post is to cut through the bullshit and create a true and lasting fan base. I will cover both free and paid methods to promote your SoundCloud.
First things first – take 15 minutes and clean up your SoundCloud page. Organise it as if a major label executive was going to view it tomorrow. Correct all spelling mistakes, add capitalised letters where appropriate, write a short bio, make sure everything is tagged and labelled correctly. Ensure all websites, social media accounts and email addresses are listed and up to date. Delete old songs that don’t reflect your current skill as a musician – I always cringe when I see artists that have low-quality demo’s from when they first started still on their page. Every upload should have an eye-catching graphic that reflects the feeling and mood of the song. Your display picture should be a professionally done photo or graphic – doesn’t need to be expensive, it just needs to look good.
Use SoundCloud Ads
You can always advertise your tracks with SoundCloud to expand your reach. SoundCloud Ads, also known as Promoted Tracks, which can be purchased by artists, include a mixture of a radio-style audio ads, display advertising on mobile, and native advertising. Thousands of artist have used this method of promoting their tracks with a lot of success.
However, ads can get expensive. Very expensive. The average SoundCloud promoted track campaign can run you up several thousand or even tens of thousands of dollars. This option is usually out of reach for most new and upcoming artists, so lets move on.
Follow / Unfollow Method
You’re allowed to follow up to 2000 users on your SoundCloud account. When you follow a random user, there’s about a 5-10% chance they’ll follow you back. (having a good display picture and interesting username helps) What many SoundCloud users do is follow a bunch of people, hope to get some follow-backs, then unfollow them shortly after. (3-7 days) As long as you don’t exceed SoundCloud 2000 follower limit, you can continue this cycle indefinitely.
This isn’t to say you should go and follow 2000 people tonight. Any unnatural activity and SoundCloud administrators will flag your account and maybe even issue a ban. Don’t overdo it – add 100 users a day at the very most. I’d even suggest spreading it out over the course of the day so you don’t alert SoundCloud’s suspicion – ie. follow 30 in the morning, 30 in the afternoon, 30 in the evening. That kind of thing.
Only follow users who will follow you back – ie. other unsigned / indie artists. Chances are Kanye West ain’t gonna give you a follow-back lol.
The ‘Recently Uploaded Track’ Method
Using SoundCloud’s search function, search up a generic ‘tag’ or genre. (ie. “hip hop”)
Next, order tracks by ‘uploaded within the past hour’. Seen here:
Like and comment on a bunch of these songs and you should get some follow-backs. The rationale behind this method is that many users will remain online 1-2hrs after their song has been posted so they can monitor statistics. If they’re online and see you’ve liked their song, there’s a very good chance they’ll come check out your page and possibly follow you.
Here are some terms you can search: rap, hip hop, trap, house, electro, club, mix, original, remix, new, 2016, etc.
There are obviously more ways to gaining more listens and fans to your Soundcloud tracks: Place a Soundcloud widgets on your website or blog, experimenting with non-music based social networking such as Instagram, Twitter, etc.