Ten Ways To Grow Your Soundcloud In 2015

With now 175 million active listeners and a valuation of over $1 Billion, It’s clearly apparent that Soundcloud is the go to platform for independent musicians. It’s now 2015 and Soundcloud will turn 8 this summer, we thought it fitting to put together our list of ten methods that in no way make a huge impact over night, but if persistently carried out together could have you finishing the year with a much larger followers count than you set out with.

01. Secure a relevant profile URL.

It’s important to secure a strong and relevant profile URL as it helps your page look clean and professional, and also looks better when linking from an external source. If your artist or brand name is also a commonly used term, it can help in letting the visitor know that your account is the official page for your brand. For example, soundcloud.com/soundspace was already taken when we made our account, so we opt-ed for soundcloud.com/wearesoundspace. We also could have chosen anything similar to /soundspacemusic, /soundspaceofficial or /soundspacebelfast.

02. Connect external sites and social media.

One of the first things on your checklist once you verify your account is to connect all external links, this gives listeners and fans a fast and easy way to connect with you on other social sites like Facebook and Twitter, or to find your official website. Soundcloud is perfect for this, as they have a default section in their account management tool for inputting external links, which then displays them underneath your profile picture in a neat, easy to navigate list.

03. Invest in a pro account.

A lot of people don’t think a Soundcloud pro account is worth the investment, as Soundcloud has frequent server issues and a paid service should have 99.9% uptime. Though there are more than enough benefits for me to recommend it as a worthy investment, and if the Pro Unlimited option is out of your financial reach, the Pro account starts at just £3.99 per month or £35 per 12 months. As well as additional upload time, you get access to accurate, well displayed analytic reports for any upload or duration you want, reports include Country and City information, as well as which web app or page your track was played at.

The biggest feature included with a Pro account is the addition of a spotlight section on your page, this allows you to display five tracks or playlists at the top of your page, above other uploads, regardless of upload date. Alongside all this, being a Pro user allows the placement of the recognisable orange icon above your username, this lets anyone visiting your profile know it’s the official page for you as an artist or brand.

04. Use relevant profile and track art.

It’s important to use clean, high quality images from the start, both for your profile image and any uploads you have. If you’re an artist, investing in press shots will help add a personal touch to your page, but still keep things professional, for a brand or label a logo is your best option. If hiring a professional photographer is out of the question, ask a friend to take some photos of you in front of a unique or interesting setting and try to perfect the lighting as best you can in Photoshop.

05. Create playlists.

As mentioned as above, a pro account will allow you to highlight five uploads in your spotlight, though you can include a lot more by creating playlists. A playlist of an EP will only take up one space on your spotlight, by doing this you can include unlimited tracks across five EPs or Albums. Playlists are also an easy way to get more plays, as someone coming across a playlist is more likely to listen to each track in that playlist.

06. Offer tracks to tastemakers.

2014 seen an explosion of tastemakers across all genres, pages such as EDM.com, MrSuicideSheep and Selected upload or repost tracks that fit their audience, giving musicians an easy and quick way to immediately having hundreds of thousands of people hear their music. Some tastemakers even use follow to download tools that require the listener must follow the original artist before receiving access to the download, this method can bring hundreds of daily followers to your page.

07. Include as many relevant tags as possible.

An easily abused featured but also very important is the use of tags on your profile, uploads and playlists. Many Soundcloud users find new music by simply searching their favourite genres, including as many relevant genre tags as you can will ensure you’re in these search results. It may also help your uploads be included on the related section of popular uploads which could bring in thousands of plays over night.

08. Write honest comments.

If you’re a musician using Soundcloud, then there’s probably a good chance you use it for streaming and discovering music also. Writing honest and relevant comments while exploring through Soundcloud may bring some new followers over time, this is often a method exploited by some users by spamming hundreds of uploads per day with comments, so be careful not to over do it.

09. Use a follow-to-download app.

If you’re an artist who frequently publishes bootlegs or free downloads, try using a follow-to-download app such as ToneDen. These apps allow you to ask the listeners to follow your page before getting access to the download link, if a track gains a lot of attention you could potential get thousands of followers from the one upload.

10. Reply to comments.

This is important as when you reply to comments on your uploads, it not only adds a sense of person to your profile but it also makes your fans feel like you have taken two minutes from your day to read, acknowledge and reply to their comment, which of course you have. It will also make your tracks seem more engaged as the comment feed will be more full. If you receive a lot of comments, it probably isn’t a good idea to reply to every one, I’d say roughly one in every ten comments would be a good ratio.

Enjoy this? Check out our 10 tips to grow your YouTube channel!