Is SoundCloud Pro Worth It? What We Learned After 3 Years of Use

Is SoundCloud Pro Worth it?

SoundCloud is my main platform for uploading tracks, finding new music and networking with producers. I personally love it, and Pro was a great choice for me. Why is this important? Because, if you use SoundCloud for even 2/3 of those things, I can confidently say (from experience) you’ll love SoundCloud Pro.

The benefits for me have been endless, and I’m definitely not the heaviest user of SoundCloud out there. However, the answer really can depend on what you use SoundCloud for, and what kind of musician you are.

Most people are migrating their catalogues to other streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music due to the larger listener base.

If you’re one of these people, then SoundCloud Pro isn’t for you. However, if you’ve built up an audience (or want to build one up on SoundCloud), SoundCloud Pro can be an incredible tool for you.

I would personally recommend SoundCloud Pro to electronic artists only.

The reason being is that the community for electronic music on SoundCloud is huge when compared to other genres. And, although you may get more listeners on Spotify, SoundCloud is where you can find true super-fans of your work, and can build relationships with producers.

The sheer power of Repost Network and SCPlanner alone are reasons to consider SoundCloud Pro. Repost trading is an absolutely incredible way to expand your audience and grow rapidly on SoundCloud, and if you’re not doing it, you’re missing out.

And, on top of that SCPlanner is adding support for Spotify scheduling and playlisting, not only giving you opportunities to do SoundCloud repost trades to massively expand your reach, but also Spotify playlist trades in the future.

If you’re serious about building your fanbase on SoundCloud, then these features alone make it highly worthwhile.

What Makes SoundCloud Pro Worth it?

There are a lot of things included with SoundCloud Pro that make it fully worth it if you’re an avid SoundCloud user.

1. Unlimited Track Uploads & Track File Changes

With SoundCloud Pro, you get unlimited uploads and track file changes.

For most people, unlimited uploads and change of track files will be enough to make Pro a worthwhile choice. The track file changes are especially useful for sending tracks to labels.

For instance, you can send an *almost finished* version to labels, blogs etc. then update them with the final release all using the same hyperlink.

You can use this alongside the analytics tools, as the file change doesn’t alter the stats. This will allow you to see how many times a label has played your track, whether a DJ has downloaded a demo etc.

Not only could screenshots of your favourite DJ or label downloading your track be used for promotional posts on social media, but they can also help you understand which labels are actually responding to your stuff.

(you’ll know exactly who’s listened and who hasn’t, and can send follow up emails to the ones that haven’t listened, for instance).

This becomes an insanely useful tool that will save you a lot of time. If you uploaded the wrong file, no worries – just replace the file and have all the same tags, description, same artwork, name etc. just with the new, correct beat. The amount of times I’ve used this feature justifies the $16/month for me alone. It saves a huge amount of time and, in an ever-increasing, fast-paced world, time is an important commodity.

2. Repost Network & SCPlanner

SCPlanner

SCPlanner is a hub that allows you to schedule releases, automatically upload songs, schedule Spotify playlists, and repost trade with other musicians, label owners and playlist networks.

The importance of SCPlanner in the growth of a SoundCloud profile should not be underestimated. SCPlanner lets you hijack similar artists’ audiences by agreeing to repost each other’s tracks to your audiences.

This gives you genre-specific reach you wouldn’t have had without it. You can also join repost chains that can offer you access to a network of 1 million+ followers that you wouldn’t have had before. These chains can be genre-specific too!

If you find a good chain, it can be the difference between 100 plays, and potentially thousands.

Repost Network

Repost Network is a distribution platform that you can use to directly release your SoundCloud music onto Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services.

Unfortunately, Repost Network takes 20% of your streaming royalties, but have a lot of great features like: playlist submission portals, marketing tools, revenue share options & more.

Personally, I make the most per stream on SoundCloud when opposed to more popular platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, so this is something to consider too.

3. Banner Artwork & Clickable Banner Links

Banner artwork is another feature you get with SoundCloud Pro that makes it a worthwhile subscription. This is a purely aesthetic reason but has some use-case when marketing your music and helps you stand out from other tracks.

You’ll notice that the majority of SoundCloud labels use this feature, and there’s a reason. You will be more likely to get a click, a listen and stand out among all the tracks a SoundCloud user will see when presented with their feed upon logging in. It also makes your SoundCloud profile look really cool.

Although not a purchase-worthy feature, it’s a nice add-on that makes your profile look amazing and helps you stand out among the 20 million SoundCloud creators that share their music daily.

4. Ad-free Listening

Another thing included with Pro that’s worthwhile is ad-free listening across the SoundCloud platform. You essentially get SoundCloud Go included in your Pro subscription.

This is a great feature, especially for DJs. A lot of the hidden gems that are going to make your sets unique and stand out from other DJ’s, are tracks that can be found on SoundCloud. These tracks very rarely get released on Spotify, Apple Music etc. because they’re often subject to copyright and don’t make it past the distribution review process.

On SoundCloud, digging for tracks is so much easier than any other platform, and often a lot of the tunes you want are available for free download.

Back when I was playing festivals and running big raves, a lot of my music collection consisted of SoundCloud releases. I would use the SoundCloud radio feature to dig for more tracks similar to the ones I liked, and could build a library of music to play out extremely quickly.

How Much is SoundCloud Pro?

Is SoundCloud Pro Good for Artists?

It’s also fantastic for finding new music and networking with other producers. SoundCloud is mostly made up of electronic producers, so you’ll often get a lot of collab opportunities here.

SoundCloud Pro has personally been fantastic for me as a DIY electronic musician. I have since given up on trying to go pro with production (lost enjoyment in it), but the tools while I was attempting this were incredible.

They allowed me to get noticed by labels within my niche, get released on them, get played on radio stations both online and nationally, and they also allowed me to rack up a decent number of plays, followers etc. that I otherwise wouldn’t have received if I didn’t have these tools.

Things like SCPlanner gave me extra reach for my solo releases and samples packs that I otherwise wouldn’t have got.

What I will mention is that consistency is king. None of these tools acts as duct tape for a lack of work ethic. Personally, I wasn’t consistent enough with my releases. If you’re consistently posting 1-2 times/month, you will get far greater results.

Focus on creating great music often first. Only then create a great marketing schedule and think about buying a Pro SoundCloud plan.

What Happens If My SoundCloud Pro Subscription Ends?

Unlike distribution services like Distrokid, Ditto and others, SoundCloud won’t remove your music from its platform if your subscription is terminated. This is fantastic from a customer experience standpoint and is extremely useful when you’re strapped for cash and can’t afford a monthly subscription.

If your Repost Network subscription ends,

Verdict – Is SoundCloud Pro Worth it?

Then short answer to this question is, yes. SoundCloud Pro is worth it. If you’re an avid SoundCloud user, or want to build a fan-base on SoundCloud, get Pro. If you don’t use SoundCloud, and prefer other platforms, don’t get it.

I would only recommend SoundCloud Pro to electronic artists because electronic music dominates the SoundCloud platform.

If you are a band, singer or other form of artist, don’t get SoundCloud Pro. Stick to uploading through Spotify etc. If however you are an electronic artist, you’ll find an awesome community of producers, and listeners that can become super fans. You can find collaborations, easily network and build life-long music connections.

To recap: