And it promises to let you keep 100% of your royalties.
SoundCloud is getting into the digital distribution business.
SoundCloud Premier’s new distribution service, which is now in public beta, allows SoundCloud Pro and Pro Unlimited users to have their tracks distributed directly to Spotify, YouTube Music, Apple Music, Instagram, Amazon Music and other platforms as part of their subscription fee.
While digital distributors will typically take a cut, SoundCloud says that users will keep 100% of their rights and 100% of their distribution royalties from third-party services for no additional cost. It seems likely that SoundCloud is using the feature to sell more Pro and Pro Unlimited subscriptions, which are currently set at $6 and $12 a month.
Whether or not SoundCloud’s deal is better than an existing digital distribution service will depend on how big your catalog is and how many streams you get on other platforms. If the streams are low, then it’s probably not going to work out favorably, as SoundCloud will ultimately make more money in subs from a low-streaming artist than it would from royalties anyway.
The service is currently in beta. In order to be eligible, users must be 18 years of age or older, have no copyright strikes, have at least 1,000 monetizable track plays and be “creators of original music” – in other words, no copyrighted material or samples can feature in your work.
The feature is the latest addition to SoundCloud aimed at making the service better for creators. Last year, it launched a partnership with Serato DJ to open up its catalog to digital DJs.
Find out more at the SoundCloud Blog.
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