How to Improve Your Discoverability on SoundCloud

In order to make your SoundCloud profile stand out among the rest, there are a couple extra steps you can take to make it happen. To help you out, we’ve narrowed it down to some of our favorite tips and tricks. With them, you can increase your music’s discoverability and expand your reach in no time. Here’s the rundown…

How to Improve Your Discoverability on SoundCloud

First impressions are everything.

Your profile pic and header are the first things people see when they look at your profile. Having a design that’s easily recognizable goes a long way. Keep in mind, your avatar appears a lot smaller on your follower’s streams. Keep it simple and eye-catching. You’ll be surprised by how much of an impact it makes.

Pro Tip: Make sure your bio and social links are in tip-top shape at all times.

• Your bio should give an introduction about you or something personal that tells a story, then encourage people to repost if they like your content.
• Double check that you’ve included updated links to all your other social platforms to ensure fans can easily learn more about you.
• All your profiles should link back to one another. Consistency is key!

Spotlight

With SoundCloud’s Spotlight feature, you can pin up to 5 items (either tracks or playlists) at the top of your profile page. With this, your potential fans can be exposed to your best work first. Got a new release you want more traction on? Throw it in the Spotlight.

Work Together

Let’s face it… There is always going to be someone better at marketing than you. Don’t fight it. Just accept it, and use that to your advantage by teaming up with your artist/producer friends by reposting, following each other, and commenting on each other’s tracks. — Even better, consider collaborating on a new track together to leverage your existing audience and theirs to expand your reach further than you could have on your own.

To make it easy, you can use something like SCPlanner to automate this process. SCPlanner is a dashboard and community site which has built-in automation and data tools for uploading, scheduling, reposting, and playlist placement. (Click here to learn how to use it)

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🧠 Feed your brain…

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Google Search Optimization

Google likes clarity and space. Instead of using compounded titles like “afternoonnap1234”, try “Afternoon Nap”. This simple edit will help you appear higher in Google search results. According to SoundCloud, repeating your Display Name in your Profile URL and linking to your other social networks will also help you improve the probability of your work showing up.

Download Gates

Simply put, download gates are software tools that allow you to give away something in exchange for social interaction. For example, when someone clicks your “Free Download” button, if they weren’t already following the page they’d be prompted to follow it in exchange for the free download of the track or album.

When it comes to your music, these can help you get twice as many followers from releasing a track than you normally would. There are many download gates to choose from, but Toneden and Hypeddit are a couple good ones to consider.

Utilize #Tags

When your tracks are properly tagged, the easier it’ll be for people browsing SoundCloud to find your music. Keep it relevant and honest to its genre. If it’s #dubstep, tag it as such. Just be sure to stick to ONE genre. Tagging multiple genres that don’t apply won’t help your track. You can also add moods and a location to your tags as well. It all makes a difference.

The more accurate and concise you are, the higher the chance of your music getting discovered by the listeners that want to hear it most.

SoundCloud Promotional Channels

These channels host other artist’s music on their own accounts to broadcast the music to their typically major audiences. Although usually called, “SoundCloud labels”, they’re not what you think. They don’t distribute the music to Spotify, Apple Music, etc., and their founders are usually pretty lenient with their acceptance guidelines, if any.

Additionally, relationships with these founders are easy to maintain through Facebook chats or direct SoundCloud messages, so you can pitch your track with ease. The bigger the channel, the more traction you’ll get on your featured tracks. However, these channels are genre specific so make sure you’re pitching accordingly.

Some of the best SoundCloud promo channels to pitch to are:

• Aux London // 160K followers // Deep House, Melodic House
• Tipsy Records // 110K followers // Tropical House, Melodic House
• TrapStyle // 131K followers // Trap, Bass
• The Falling Apple // 172K followers // Deep House

Have Unique Cover Art

Your album art represents your music no matter where it goes. When you share your song on Facebook, the cover art goes with it. If your track gets picked up and featured on a blog, guess what? So does the cover art. Considering platforms look relatively the same for everyone, your cover art is where you get to truly stand out.

Need help? Our Symphonic designers can create an awesome album cover just for you to help promote your music in a way that’s uniquely your own. Allow us to harness the power of your music with a custom design that reflects your personality and your music. // Click here to learn more.

In Conclusion…

With these steps, you’ll increase the discoverability of your music on SoundCloud in no time. The key to seeing substantial growth is to remain consistent with your efforts and adapt as you go.

Good luck!