SoundCloud is the No. 1 choice of independent artists as it is the first-ever music streaming platform that allows artists to monetize their music and generate revenue. Didn’t know about it? Well, as an artist, it’s about time you explored how to make money on SoundCloud.
It happened in 2018 when the trend of music streaming platforms was rising steadily, and yet no platform was thinking about facilitating the artists. That’s when SoundCloud premier was launched, a direct monetization program for independent music creators and songwriters.
SoundCloud premier boosted the already sky-high popularity of SoundCloud even more, and it soon became the Artists’ choice. Now, there are thousands of artists getting paid while doing what they love and are grateful to Soundcloud for it.
So, if you think that your music has potential and you want to make money off of it, then this post is just right for you. We’re going to show you how to make money on SoundCloud, explore the requirements and process for monetization and give you some tips to make big bucks.
Can You Make Money on SoundCloud?
Yeah! You can definitely make money on SoundCloud as long as you meet the criteria of monetization and haven’t violated any of the platform’s policies so far. SoundCloud offers a simple monetization program called SoundCloud premier to all its independent artists.
All you have to do is apply to the program and wait till your application gets approved. Once you enter the SoundCloud premier club, you’ll be able to make money through your live streams and track plays. You can also give a link to your tracks and redirect the audience to your site, where they can purchase your music.
Famous artists like Post Malone and Lil Uzi Vert are earning through the SoundCloud monetization program, and their combined revenue generated is more than 50 million dollars. It is proof that it’s not just possible to make money on this platform, but it is also possible to make a fortune through your craft.
SoundCloud Monetization Requirements
So, we do know that it’s possible to make money on SoundCloud, and we have examples of some famous artists as proof. But what do you need to do to get your content monetization on SoundCloud?
Honestly, not much! You just need to make sure that you’re eligible for the SoundCloud premier program, and if you meet the criteria, you can apply for monetization, and that’s all.
Here are the eligibility requirements for SoundCloud premier:
- Artist must upload tracks that belong to him from his own original account. Fan accounts aren’t considered eligible for SoundCloud premier.
- The artist should be 18 years or older.
- Artist must have a SoundCloud Pro account.
- The artist should have at least 5,000 track plays in the past month before he applies for the SoundCloud premier.
- Artist’s content should be undisputed without any copyright strikes.
Look at that – did you just say you meet all these criteria? Well then, let’s not waste time and jump straight into the process of monetizing a track.
How to Monetize SoundCloud Tracks?
Whether you’re an indie artist or a rapper, podcaster, or disc jockey, after making sure that you’re eligible for monetization, you can sign the contract with SoundCloud premier and start making money through your tracks.
To enable monetization on a track, you’ll have to get verified, and if you are verified, a blue tick will appear beside that track of yours, which represents that now you’ll get paid for every play it gets. Here’s how you can apply monetization on your tracks:
Step 1: “Login” to your SoundCloud profile and navigate to your tracks page.
Step 2: Now, click on the “Edit Tracks” button.
Step 3: Go to the “Monetization” tab and enable the monetization for the tracks you want to generate money through.
Step 4: After that, fill in the “Metadata” for those tracks, or revamp the current one.
Step 5: Click on the “Save Changes” button to finish the process. If your application gets accepted, then you’ll be notified in 24 hours, and a blue tick will appear next to your tracks.
Once the monetization is enabled on your track, you’ll be paid for every stream, and how much you make will depend on the potential of your track.
How to Make Money on SoundCloud?
Like we said, how much you make on SoundCloud depends on the potential of your tracks. The better your songs perform, the more money you’ll make. It means if you improve and optimize your tracks, you can boost your revenue and make big bucks, right?
That’s why we’ve brought some of the best strategies you can apply to improve the performance of your tracks and increase your revenue by great margins. All of these strategies are tested and proven effective, so apply them right away and start making more money.
1. Keep Improving Your Tracks
The reason SoundCloud is undisputedly the best music streaming platform of all time is that it ensures to provide only the best quality tracks to its listeners. Now, you might be creating awesome tracks right now, but you need to keep improving them to survive and earn.
Learn from the mistakes you made in your previous tracks, and rectify them. Doing this will not only make you a better artist but will also enhance the quality of your tracks, which means they will get more plays, and you’ll get more money.
2. Share Your Tracks on Social Media Platforms
To generate more revenue, you need to boost your tracks’ reach, and for that, you need to promote them on social networking sites. Share the link of your monetized tracks with your friends and followers on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Snapchat to get more plays on it and thus generate more revenue against streams.
3. Upgrade Your Account to Pro Unlimited
You do need a Pro account to qualify for the SoundCloud premier program, but if you upgrade it to Pro unlimited, you’ll get a lot of perks and access to amazing features like advanced audience insights or analytics. By unlocking this feature, you’ll be able to keep an eye on your account’s stats and find out how well your tracks are performing.
You can compare your plays in the past month with numbers from the current month and see if you’re making progress or not. There are other exciting features of Pro or pro unlimited account too that will help you make and promote your tracks better, which will eventually help you make more revenue share.
4. Always add a Buy Link with Your Tracks
Don’t just rely on the earnings from SoundCloud, and always make sure to add a buy link with your tracks, which your audience can click to reach your site and purchase your track. This tactic will help you earn some more bucks and increase the commercial value of your music.
5. Embed Ads on Your Tracks
SoundCloud pays an artist whenever a listener hears an audio ad while listening to their podcast, and ads pay a lot. That’s why you should enable and embed ads on your tracks, so you can generate substantial revenue by helping brands and businesses market their products.
So, these were the tips that helped artists generate more revenue on SoundCloud. Remember that all these strategies require consistency, so you’ll have to apply them on a regular basis if you want to improve your track sales and monetization revenue.
How Much Does SoundCloud Pay Per Stream?
SoundCloud has sure allowed artists to monetize their tracks, but it’s also true that you can’t make a lot of money on this platform unless you’re very popular. For struggling artists, it’s hard to make enough money through their SoundCloud monetization.
Why? Because most independent artists start from zero and don’t have many fans following to earn a stable income through SoundCloud, it’s the one thing that you need the most.
But still, it’s not that bad, actually. SoundCloud currently pays around about $2.50 to $4.00 for 1000 plays. Imagine working hard for weeks to make a track, and then you get only $200 after getting 50,000 streams on your track.
That’s why experts recommend selling tracks separately as well and promoting them on SoundCloud to increase their commercial value. You can put your fan following on SoundCloud to good use and start marketing products during your stream, which can be quite lucrative.
Conclusion
Being an artist and being a well-paid artist are two different things, and we all know that the latter is better. So, it’s a good thing that you went through this post and learned how to make money on SoundCloud. We hope you put everything you learned today to good use and make good money while doing what you love the most.
For any queries about this article, feel free to use the comments section or ping us on our social media channels, and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
