If you’ve been releasing and sharing music over the last 20 years, there’s a good chance SoundCloud has played a role in your journey.
For a long time, SoundCloud was the place for indie artists to upload demos, early releases, remixes, and works-in-progress, often before those tracks ever hit Spotify or Apple Music. It built its reputation as a social-first platform for discovery, not a traditional distributor.
That changed in 2022, when SoundCloud rolled out distribution to mainstream DSPs. Now you can not only upload music for discovery and community feedback, but also send those same tracks directly to Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and more—all without leaving the SoundCloud ecosystem. If you already have a SoundCloud back catalog, this is a big deal. You now have a direct pipeline to push existing uploads to DSPs without starting from scratch elsewhere.
We recently tested the system. It’s not the smoothest or most elegant distribution interface out there…It’s definitely clunky, but it works. And for artists who already use SoundCloud, the convenience alone may make it worth considering.
Before SoundCloud added distribution, its free and paid plans were only distinguished by on-platform features, like upload limits, access to stats, and basic monetization. Distribution first appeared in 2018 as a separate service called Repost Network. Today, distribution is built directly into SoundCloud’s paid Artist and Artist Pro plans, alongside all the on-platform features, making it part of the core subscription rather than a separate product.
For the right artist, especially one with years of uploads sitting on SoundCloud, this could be a surprisingly practical option.
Let’s break down how it works, what it costs, and who it actually makes sense for.
Just like the old days, SoundCloud still offers a free Artist profile (aka the “Basic” plan), but you can’t distribute music on the free tier. To access distribution, you’ll need one of SoundCloud’s two paid plans: Artist & Artist Pro. With the Artist plan, you can distribute up to two tracks per month. The Artist Pro plan allows for unlimited uploads, plus access to more advanced Fan Insights (more on that later). Both plans also include monthly mastering credits—two per month on the Artist plan and three per month on Artist Pro. One important caveat: the Artist plan is currently only available in select territories. Pricing is fairly affordable. The Artist plan costs $3.25/month ($39/year), while Artist Pro runs $8.25/month ($99/year). Contrast this with some of the competitors out there like Amuse ($24/yr), DistroKid ($23/yr), Tunecore ($15/yr), Symphonic ($20/yr). Now of course, the annual price only tells part of the story. Check out the FULL comparison of 18 of the biggest distributors here.
SoundCloud distribution is open to all eligible users, and they take zero commission on streaming royalties, which we love.
Once you’re paying for your annual plan, there are no hidden fees. This is huge. Many of the other distributors out there hide a lot of hidden fees in there. So even though those distributors may seem cheaper at first, after you finish distributing your first song you may have an additional $50 worth of annual add-ons.
The distribution workflow is fairly straightforward at first. From your artist dashboard, you head to the Distribution tab and create a new release, selecting tracks one at a time from your existing SoundCloud catalog with the option to preview each song. This is convenient… if you already use SoundCloud. If not, you’ll need to upload tracks to your SoundCloud profile first (they can be private), then return to the distribution page to select them. It works, but compared to most standalone distributors, there are definitely extra steps which is a bit burdensome.
As you move through the process, the interface often lets you advance before required fields are complete. That leads to vague error messages later. Things like —“Needs info” or “This section has errors”—without clearly pointing you to what’s missing or where to fix it. You’ll likely find yourself backtracking more than you’d expect. The system works, but the UX could be much tighter.
When filling out Track Info, SoundCloud requires a Contributor Name and Composer Name, and allows you to add featured artists, producers, remixers, lyricists, writers, arrangers, mastering engineers, mixing engineers, and studio musicians. I appreciate the range of credits, but, to me, the songwriting terminology is confusing. “Composer Name” appears to function as the primary songwriter field, but separate fields exist for lyricists and writers, without any guidance on how these roles should overlap.
It’s also good to see Studio Musicians included, but the crediting still isn’t granular enough.
You can’t specify who played which instrument, and I’d like to see “assistant engineer” added as a credit option as well.
SoundCloud lets you choose custom start times for platforms like TikTok and Apple Music, which is genuinely useful. Unfortunately, you can’t preview the audio from that start point within the interface, so you’ll need to double-check elsewhere.
SoundCloud will automatically generate an ISRC if you don’t already have one, and it provides a clear place to upload required documentation, and allows you to opt into YouTube Content ID if you desire. There’s also an audio language field, which is helpful, but it doesn’t support tracks with multiple languages. Helpful “info” icons are scattered throughout the interface, easy to miss, but genuinely useful when things get confusing.
During testing, I ran into a small but noticeable metadata issue. I selected Folk as the primary genre, but the Secondary Genre dropdown was frozen and displayed “No secondary genres available.” It’s a minor thing, but it fits the broader theme here: the system works, but little UX hiccups pop up more often than they should.
On the distribution side, SoundCloud sends music to TikTok, Facebook/Instagram, and lets you register with SoundExchange if desired (which is extremely helpful for US artists – because registering as a Rights Owner in SoundExchange is a massive headache), along with 25 other release partners.
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When I got to the Add Streaming Profiles section, I ran into a bit more friction. Even after entering my artist name earlier, my Spotify and Apple Music profiles didn’t show up. After a little troubleshooting, I realized I hadn’t clicked “Save” in the Track Info section. Once I did, everything appeared automatically. It’s a little sticky, but the profile-mapping feature does work. When everything goes right, it allows you to distribute multiple projects under different artist names while keeping everything in one SoundCloud account.
Adding split payments was refreshingly simple and free. Collaborators just need a SoundCloud account, and a free one works fine. Contrast this with DistroKid which charges $10/year per collaborator.
What really sets SoundCloud apart is with its Fans, Promotions, and Amplify tools.
Once your monetized tracks generate enough engagement, you can identify your biggest fans and message them directly. This is huge. Very few platforms give artists a direct line to their listeners, and SoundCloud’s fan insights make it easier to build a real community around your music rather than just chasing passive streams.
On the monetization side, SoundCloud uses a Fan-Powered Royalties system, which is fundamentally different from the pro rata model used by Spotify and Apple Music. It’s important to note that fan-powered royalties only apply to streams that happen on SoundCloud itself. That payment structure does not extend to other platforms, even if you distribute through SoundCloud. Still, it’s a genuinely artist-friendly model that’s worth calling out. Rather than pooling all subscription revenue and paying out based on total platform streams, each listener’s subscription fee gets allocated only to the artists they actually listen to, which many consider a fairer way to handle payouts.
SoundCloud has also rolled out Amplify, a discovery feature designed to give new releases a bit of a push directly on the SoundCloud platform. Amplify recommends newly uploaded tracks to listeners most likely to enjoy them. It’s not a guarantee that a track will take off, but it does provide early exposure that most other distributors can’t offer. SoundCloud is in a unique position to do this because it functions as both a streaming platform and a distributor.
Through SoundCloud’s Promotions feature, artists can pitch their music to SiriusXM, Spotify playlists (including Release Radar), Amazon Music, and Groover (with a 20% discount). Artists who distribute through SoundCloud also get free access to Feature.fm, which includes smart links and pre-save tools.
Overall, SoundCloud’s distribution service feels exactly like SoundCloud itself—artist-friendly pricing, zero commission, and genuinely useful fan tools, paired with a workflow that still feels a little rough around the edges.
If you already have a catalog living on SoundCloud, distributing directly from your existing uploads can be a real advantage. If you’re looking for the smoothest interface and release process, other distributors still do this better.
But for artists already living in the SoundCloud world, this is an easy, practical way to get your music out there and keep your fans close while doing it.
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