Many of today’s world stars had started from SoundCloud from the scratch. Because of the technology we have today, becoming popular is much easier than a few decades ago. There are many platforms you can try out, but this one is focused only on music. The industry is very competitive, but with quality sound and with right marketing you are able to accomplish much.
There are many tips you can try to get more followers and plays, and some you can get for free some may cost. Many artists think about buying SoundCloud plays because the process of getting more followers is faster when you already have enough plays. This isn’t the only way you can improve your account. If you organize your account, it would be more appealing to users.
Clean Metadata
When you make a track there is usually a long name with numbers beside the name. When you upload it try fixing these cryptic messages. The track should only important information like track title, label, and artist name. There are many examples of good and bad titles. Another tip is to avoid duplication of information like having the name in more places or the number of the tack in the title of the song. When you upload an album it will automatically sort them.
Because there are users that aren’t artists, to have clean metadata, label accounts will only need a title of the artist’s song and the name of the song so it will be recognizable. The goal is to make it simpler, the platform would be easier to discover by other people. When it comes to journalists and podcasters, they should have information like the discussion topics and names of guests in the title. This will help with discoverability and searches.
Read more about it here:blog.soundcloud.com/2018/05/08/optimize-soundcloud-tracks/
Social Media
Social media has become the best place to promote any brand or art. Instagram, for example, is the best place to get noticed. You can use this platform to share your SoundCloud account, but firstly you should get enough followers. The other way is to find someone else that has a large number of followers and ask them to share your music.
Usually, they will ask you to pay for a shoutout which can be great if you know who to target. Other platforms like Facebook or Twitter are also great if you know who you can ask for help. It is important to be on every website that can give you some kind of feedback.
Descriptions and Images
Even when the music is the main goal, you shouldn’t focus only on making a great song and releasing it. Everything that comes after that is also very important like the description and cover art. Each platform has its own way of sorting which account is better than other, and details are crucial here. Things like high-resolution images are also important and when you upload them you can resize so it will fit.
Descriptions can be very powerful if you know to use them correctly. Besides your music, you can also be creative and descriptive about the description. If the audio you’ve uploaded has some story behind it, it is a perfect chance to share it with your listeners. Things like guest lists, lyrics, credits, and backstory are added here. Many users are promoting each other by shoutout, linking their profile in here. You should always have a professional approach.
Tag the Genre and Mood of the Audio
The mood of your song is connected to the people that will listen to the audio. You would always want to tag the mood of the audio. When users listen to only music that has one mood, the SoundCloud algorithm will automatically recommend similar songs. So, if you use your tags correctly, people will discover you faster.
When you are adding which genre is the track, you should afterward add some similar sub-genres and moods that will define your song. When you add too many it will be messy and the algorithm won’t know which is the most related to the audio. So, it is better to add a few than too many. This system is the same for every platform where you can promote yourself.