Last month, SoundCloud unveiled a number of benefits to assist its community worldwide amid the Coronavirus crisis, including a 50% discount on a subscription to SoundCloud Pro Unlimited and a partnership with Twitch.
Today (April 2), the platform has gone a step further, announcing a raft of new initiatives including a new direct fan-support button for all creators, the launch of a new marketing and distribution service called Repost by SoundCloud and over $15 million worth of creator support during this difficult time.
CEO Kerry Trainor (pictured) announced the news via a blog post today, in which he also revealed, that as the crisis has unfolded, the platform has experienced a 50% surge in creators uploading in the past month alone.
“Behind this creative response, we know there continues to be financial loss and uncertainty for our creator community,” added Trainor.
The support announced today includes $5 million in free promotional support on SoundCloud, with the company giving away all of its ‘Promote on SoundCloud’ inventory for the remainder of 2020.
For creators to make use of the offer, they’ll need to tag their uploads with #GetMorePlays and SoundCloud’s editorial team will then select up to five artists per week to promote.
SoundCloud also says that it will commit $10m to an artist accelerator program to support independent creators’ career growth.
The program, writes Trainor, will “help fuel the careers of independent artists upstreamed from Repost by SoundCloud into our artist services offering, Repost Select”. Artists can apply here.
In addition, today sees the “immediate launch” of Repost by SoundCloud, a new marketing and distribution service for independent artists.
You can read Trainor’s post in full below:
Dear SoundCloud Creators,
Since our founding, SoundCloud’s mission has been to give people the power to share, connect and grow through music.
As the coronavirus crisis has unfolded, we’ve seen a global outpouring of tracks on SoundCloud–with a 50% surge in creators uploading in the past month alone. But behind this creative response, we know there continues to be financial loss and uncertainty for our creator community.
Last week we rolled out our first wave of creator support–our partnership with Twitch, 50% off SoundCloud Pro Unlimited, a resource guide and weekly creator office hours with our artist relations team–to help with the impact some of you are facing. This felt like a good start, but we want to do more for the long term.
Today, we’re accelerating a series of new initiatives and over $15M in direct investment to support creators on SoundCloud during this difficult time.
- New direct fan-support button for all creators
We’ve created a simple button for your SoundCloud profile to connect your preferred way to receive direct fan support including Kickstarter, Patreon, Bandcamp, PayPal and more. Learn how to get this live on your profile right now.
- $5m in free promotional support for all creators to drive more plays on SoundCloud
For the rest of 2020, we’re giving away all of our Promote on SoundCloud inventory. Tag your SoundCloud uploads #GetMorePlays and our editorial team will select up to 5 artists per week to feature with promotion.
- Immediate launch of Repost by SoundCloud, a new marketing and distribution service
Independent artists who want to take their career to the next level can now access professional marketing and monetization services plus industry-leading distribution features. Repost by SoundCloud is available to everyone, no play count thresholds. Learn more here.
- $10m artist accelerator program to support independent creators’ career growth
We are committing $10M to help fuel the careers of independent artists upstreamed from Repost by SoundCloud into our artist services offering, Repost Select. Apply here.
We understand our efforts here are no match for the care providers on the frontlines of this global crisis. But we will continue to look for ways to support our global SoundCloud community, so you can keep sharing music we can all turn to in these challenging times, and long into the future.
KerryMusic Business Worldwide
