Soundcloud announced today that creators can now distribute music to all major music services including Spotify at no additional cost. The announcement from New York says that Soundcloud has expanded its “Premier monetization toolset” with the distribution tools now available in Beta.





The benefits will be available to all Soundcloud Pro and Pro Ultimate users. This comes as good news to producers who would otherwise have to pay additional fees to independent distribution networks to feature their tracks on platforms such as Spotify and Apple music. The press release from Soundcloud said:

“With the new distribution feature, creators monetizing original music on SoundCloud can seamlessly add distribution into all major music services including Amazon Music, Apple Music, Instagram, Spotify, Tencent, YouTube Music and more–all directly from their SoundCloud account.

“The power and convenience of SoundCloud Premier monetization and distribution tools are built directly into existing SoundCloud Pro and Pro Unlimited subscription accounts for creators, at no additional cost. Creators using the SoundCloud Premier distribution feature keep 100% of their rights, keep 100% of their distribution royalties from third-party services, and at no additional cost.

Soundcloud Premier is a service to paying Soundcloud users which allows them to monetise their tracks on the platform. The website states that the artist keeps the entirety of their payouts from the newly added platforms. Creators who meet the following criteria are eligible to participate in the open beta:

SoundCloud Pro or Pro Unlimited subscriber

Has original music, and owns or controls all applicable rights

18 years old or age of majority in their country

No copyright strikes at time of enrollment

At least 1,000 plays in the past month from countries where SoundCloud listener subscriptions and advertising are available (US, UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, New Zealand)

This may mark a return of the platform which has stagnated somewhat over the past few years, especially with streaming giants like Spotify taking the helm. Their biggest fall came when they slashed 40% of their workforce in 2017 due to poor figures. They have since received large investments and this is no doubt the fruit of those numbers.





Now that Soundcloud acts as an “in” to the giants such as Spotify though, it may see a big surge in producers willing to pay premium fees to get on the big streamers. This could have a negative effect overall if not handled right by all companies.





Soundcloud itself became known for the large number of producers uploading their demos of varying quality – something which put many listeners on the platform off. Genres prefixed with “Soundcloud”, e.g Soundcloud Rap, became a legitimate taxonomy.





One must therefore hope that Spotify especially does not fall foul of the listeners with such an influx of middle-ground producers aiming to make it big.





But, perhaps that’s for them to worry about, and after all, they do have the best recommendation features in the business. Maybe they can continue recommending quality music, all the while, dropping in suggestions for the smaller names.





Now is certainly the time to jump across to the platform though it may be worth ensuring only your best tracks go up.