There are many options and features within SoundCloud that allow musicians to collaborate, promote, and distribute their music. SoundCloud is being described for audio as what Instagram is for photos or what Youtube is for videos.
It enables everything from mobile voice recording, online mastering, digital distribution to Facebook artist profiles, and iPad music making. It is a medium that allows for custom branding, controlled distribution, and statistics.
Free entry to the platform is an obvious reason for DIY musician to use SoundCloud, however below are 4 great reasons why you should give SoundCloud a try:
Industry Standard for Audio Sharing
SoundCloud focuses heavily on the convenience of audio sharing by allowing many options for sharing and presenting your music. SoundCloud allows for secret sharing with secret links and even private sharing. Secret links can be sent that won’t show up on search results or profiles, and unlike many other private sharing, there is no requirement for a log in to access the link sent.
Baked-In Social Network
One of the largest aspects about SoundCloud is that it is a huge platform to integrate yourself socially. SoundCloud has features that allow for timed comments, audio tracks are depicted graphically as waveforms and it allows users to comment on specific parts of the tracks. It is a platform that provides users the ability to create, join groups, and collaborate with other groups.
Note: Soundcloud is working on a brand new platform (Soundcloud v2.0) that focuses even more on discovery and social sharing, so if Soundcloud’s current social network doesn’t do it for you, their upcoming platform may be something to keep an eye out for.
Helps Target Fans Located Around the World
Most music platform sites allow you to track your amount of plays. SoundCloud does provide this but, it also shows a percentage breakdown of where your sounds are being heard. You can also use the statistics to view your sounds by popularity. This is helpful for you to be able to see where your fans are or even where your potential fans are by tracking those who are listening to your music on blogs and websites all over the world.
Mobile Ready
SoundCloud is not only a platform online it provides a mobile app that allows for you to update, work on your audio, and/ or listen to music. It also has an advantage of using HTML 5, not flash, so your audio and information can be viewed from mobile browsers/ websites.
How have YOU benefited from using Soundcloud?
Let us know how you have made Soundcloud work for you, or how you’ve seen other artists use it as an effective tool in their own marketing arsenal in the form of a comment below
I actually use it as a music blogger. It’s how musicians send me music and it’s much more efficient than traditional email. I do wish they would tailor it for bloggers a bit more, but I’m sure that’s in the works 😉
Hey thanks for chiming in! Do you use their dropbox function to receive music for your blog?
Yep, exactly
I just read Soundcloud has partnered with Getty Images Music and developed a feature that allows artists to license their music directly from their streaming player and widget. Cool.