Effective Ways to Increase Soundcloud Plays: TOP 3 Killer Strategies for 2024

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The music industry is ever-changing but if you want to keep a pulse on all the amazing music that is currently being created, SoundCloud is a must-have platform. The app allows users to create music, promote music, and share in their love of quality music. Whether you want to promote your own music or share with other artists, creating a SoundCloud account is essential.

Once you become a part of the SoundCloud universe, the next step is music promotion, which includes increasing the number of SoundCloud plays. We’ll walk you through the steps you can take so you can interact with as many artists as possible all while sharing the great music you love. Along the way, you may decide to buy SoundCloud plays, which can help increase your followers by demonstrating that others have listened to your music and enjoy it.

Understanding SoundCloud plays and How they Are Counted

A SoundCloud play refers to when a song is played. Once somebody presses the play button on a song through the app, that counts as one play.

The app is a free download but if you want to have access to an ad-free experience, then you can pay a monthly subscription service. This is similar to other music-related apps, such as Spotify.

Unfortunately, if you click the play button on your own music, it is not counted as a play. This does make sense, however, as otherwise, new artists would simply loop their music in an effort to get more plays.

The number of plays is incredibly important in the music world as artists earn royalties depending on how often their songs are played. However, before you get too excited, know that a song needs to be played thousands of times to receive any money. This is why expanding your fan base to find more listeners is essential for any new artist.

The Best Methods to Get More SC Plays

With artists getting paid less than a penny for every thousand SoundCloud plays, it quickly becomes obvious that it’s not enough to wait for casual listeners to find your music. In fact, if you can turn casual listeners into dedicated followers, you can quickly increase your play count.

Here are some of the best methods for independent artists to find new listeners and ensure their music is heard.

Strategy 1: Create a Broader Social Media Presence

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It’s tempting to stick to one social media site and become proficient with it. In reality, however, it makes much more sense to have all your social media platforms work together. The average person in the United States has signed up for six social media sites. This means that sometimes they will scroll through Facebook and sometimes they will look at Instagram. The more you can target, the wider your potential audience.

Don’t be afraid to cross-post on different social media sites. Everyone does this, including celebrities. Just make sure you aren’t only posting about Soundcloud on your Insta profile. Otherwise, followers will quickly tune you out.

Making the Most of Platforms Like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook

Along with promoting your Soundcloud profile, you should also spend some time on your other accounts, particularly Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. These sites have a massive global reach. For example, Facebook has over 260 million users in the United States alone and over 3 billion accounts in the entire world.

While it can seem overwhelming to spend so much time on these sites when you’re just trying to promote your SoundCloud account, this effort will pay off. Soundcloud offers different online elements and together with an Instagram or Facebook account, you can offer your followers an entire package. Cross promotion is essential to gain more SoundCloud followers.

How to Drive Traffic to SoundCloud and Engage with Followers

When you use other social media sites to increase traffic to your Soundcloud account, be sure to keep your posts light and helpful. This isn’t a time to make people feel pressured to interact with you.

Strategy 2: Collaborate to Expand Your Network

In order to attract more listeners, you need to put the work in. While you may think you have a target audience you want to reach, by expanding your network, you can find more SoundCloud groups that are also interested in your music. As an aspiring musician, you don’t want to discount any potential listeners.

Make Connections with Other Artists or Influencers

One of the best and most exciting ways to attract a wider audience is to connect with other SoundCloud artists. Not only will this help in finding more potential listeners but it can get you excited about the entire music process.

The SoundCloud community can help you connect with people who have a different skill set than you may have. For example, if you aren’t very visual, you can find somebody to create eye-catching cover art for your upcoming album. Or, you may even be able to collaborate with other influencers to create music videos.
When you find other people with the same goals as you, it’s amazing what you can achieve.

Participate in the Larger SoundCloud Community and Events

The beauty of any sort of social media, including SoundCloud, is that you can connect with people all over the world. In fact, many international students learn English this way and form lasting connections with friends who don’t even live in the same country as them.

One important strategy to increase your SoundCloud plays is to reach out to the community around you. Interact with other people and bond over your shared love of music.

Through this, you can also be exposed to new music, which, if you are on SoundCloud, must surely be a large part of your life.

Check out or look at creating SoundCloud events. If you befriend people with active accounts, you can host a linkup where you share music or help to promote each other. The other people on SoundCloud shouldn’t be seen as your adversaries; rather they should be seen as part of your community.

Strategy 3: Highlight Your Soundcloud Profile and Tracks

The little things often make a huge difference. For example, how interesting is your SoundCloud profile? Something as simple as a professional looking profile picture can attract more followers simply because you look inviting or interesting.

As for your tracks, be sure to include a description. Set the mood or tone. Many people look for music this way. For example, if your music is geared towards a calm studying session or an active workout, include these descriptions on your SoundCloud tracks.

The Nitty Gritty of High-quality Artwork, Titles, and Descriptions

Thanks to improved technology, people expect better artwork and overall promotion. You can’t simply slap a few words on a playlist and call it a day. Instead, you need to spend more time making everything look professional, even if you are on a shoestring budget.

If you can, create unique track artwork to showcase the themes of your music. You might be spending a lot of time up front working on this but it will be worth it as more people find your music.

Using Tags, Keywords, and Metadata Effectively

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Unfortunately, it is not enough to simply post music on SoundCloud and hope that people find it. Instead, you need to use all the available resources to promote your account.

Hashtags are one of the best ways to promote your SoundCloud account. You can start by designing your own hashtag, such as your profile handle, to create brand awareness.

You should also use popular hashtags so that when people search for them in SoundCloud, your posts will pop up.

You should also pay attention to current hashtags that are going viral. This way you can jump on any viral challenges or themes that will make your SoundCloud account more relevant.

Tags are also useful when posting to your SoundCloud account. Start with generic ones, such as the genre of the music. Then, add keywords that are more specific. For example, if you start with rock music as a tag, you can add more specific keywords such as alternative rock, pop rock, or prog rock.

Finally, look at the metadata of your SoundCloud posts. What is the current reach of your top posts? Who is interacting with them?

The more information you can find about who is listening to your SoundCloud playlists and songs, the more you can create content that other people are interested in. However, make sure you stay true to your music roots. You want to be proud of the content you curate on SoundCloud so stay relevant but don’t change your identity.

Conclusion

SoundCloud promotion may not be what you want to do, but if you want more SoundCloud plays, it is essential. Marketing music is not often the goal of making music, but if you want more people to find your new tracks, then it will all be worth it in the end.