SoundCloud has began letting artists promote music on to followers by itself platform, and says it received’t take a lower of these gross sales.
The corporate launched a beta of direct music purchases on Wednesday (August 26), opening it to a choose group of Artist Professional creators who can now promote tracks from their profiles.
SoundCloud says it takes no fee on purchases, with artists receiving the proceeds from every sale, much less relevant charges and taxes.
Followers can discover, purchase, and obtain tracks with out leaving SoundCloud, in line with the corporate.
“Artists ought to have the ability to construct their viewers in a single place, on one platform,” mentioned Eliah Seton, CEO of SoundCloud. “SoundCloud has all the time been the place artists discover their first followers and construct actual communities.
“We’re persevering with to deliver extra of what they should develop their careers into that very same expertise, whereas letting followers straight assist the music they love.”
“We’re persevering with to deliver extra of what they should develop their careers into that very same expertise, whereas letting followers straight assist the music they love.”
Eliah Seton, SoundCloud
The beta is beginning with roughly 200 US-based Artist Professional creators who’ve Fan Help enabled.
These creators can set the worth of eligible tracks, make streamed music obtainable for buy, and monitor gross sales by Artist Studio and the Fan Help Dashboard.
Followers purchase and obtain in whichever format the artist provides, akin to MP3 or WAV.
“Beginning with a smaller creator group offers us a direct suggestions loop: what’s working, the place there’s friction, and what artists need us to construct subsequent,” SoundCloud mentioned in its announcement.
SoundCloud says entry will widen by the beta earlier than it reaches all eligible creators later this fall.
Purchases sit alongside Fan-Powered Royalties, Fan Help, on-demand vinyl, and ticketing as methods for artists to earn on the platform, the corporate says.
The corporate says the demand is already seen within the site visitors leaving SoundCloud for different companies.
Greater than 250,000 artists have linked over 2.4 million tracks to exterior music platforms, SoundCloud says.
It additionally says it sends greater than half one million customers a yr to exterior events to purchase music.
In its personal analysis, 28% of surveyed artists both promote downloadable music already or need to, break up evenly between the 2 teams at 14% every.
“The necessity is already there,” SoundCloud mentioned. “We’re bringing it on to SoundCloud.”
SoundCloud says its analysis additionally reveals that superfans can spend as much as 5 instances extra on music and artists than informal listeners.
The launch extends a run of monetization modifications at SoundCloud.
In November 2025, SoundCloud scrapped the income share on its distribution service, letting subscribing artists preserve 100% of their royalties from distribution to Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, TikTok, and different platforms.
That overhaul additionally launched zero-commission Fan Help, on-demand vinyl, merchandise, and artist storefronts, a part of what Seton has referred to as “the subsequent main income format” in music.
In March 2026, SoundCloud launched Follower Unique Releases, which lets Artist Professional subscribers gate tracks behind a comply with.
The corporate then acquired Nina Protocol in July 2026, taking up the editorial archive of a platform that had let artists promote music on to listeners and preserve 100% of their gross sales.
Paid downloads additionally sit on the heart of Bandcamp‘s enterprise.
That platform takes 15% of digital gross sales, dropping to 10% as soon as an artist reaches $5,000 in gross sales, in line with its revealed charge schedule.
Bandcamp‘s share on bodily items is 10%, with cost processor charges charged individually.
Downloads and different digital revenues fell 5.0% year-on-year in 2025 and now account for 2.5% of worldwide recorded music revenues, in line with IFPI’s International Music Report 2026.
That marked a thirteenth consecutive yr of decline for the format, in a yr when streaming accounted for 69.6% of the worldwide whole.Music Enterprise Worldwide
