SoundCloud isn’t just a home to aspiring musicians looking to gain exposure; it’s also popular among labels and A&R reps who actively scour the site searching for the next big thing. Unfortunately, many artists on SoundCloud make certain mistakes that actually prevent them from getting noticed by industry professionals. In this article, we’ll discuss the top 11 most common mistakes artists make on SoundCloud and how you can avoid them so your music gets heard by the right people!
1) Not Building Presence on Other Social Media Sites
One of the biggest mistakes artists make is simply not having enough followers. If you’re trying to take your music career seriously, you need to be on SoundCloud a lot—and that means getting more followers. While it might seem like some artists are just born with a million followers, it’s actually something you can work towards on your own. Don’t stop at just one platform—build up a presence across multiple social media sites and watch your following grow.
2) Uploading Multiple Versions of Tracks
Not only will uploading multiple versions of your tracks hurt your SEO, but it also dilutes your efforts. Instead, choose one or two sound quality options and stick with them—if a listener wants to hear a high-quality version of your track, they’ll be sure to listen to it on iTunes or Spotify. If you do want to upload different versions of your music, make sure that each track has its own unique title so listeners can easily find what they are looking for.
3) Relying Too Much on Automation/ Bot Services
There are hundreds of bot services out there that promise to do everything for you. But we’re not talking about those. We’re talking about services like MyPlay, which sends bots automatically following your followers and unfollowing people who don’t follow you back to get you more followers. Not only is this against Terms of Service on Twitter, but it won’t help your account look human and will ultimately have a negative effect on your engagement rate. If a service asks you to break any terms of service or any laws online, turn around and run in the other direction. It might seem easy in theory, but these bot services are really easy to fall into if they promise results quickly without having to do anything yourself—don’t be tempted!
4) Low Quality Track Names
One of my biggest pet peeves with artists (yes, including myself) is when you make a great track and then give it a low-quality name. This makes it harder for listeners to find your music! Give each track its own unique name, usually in one of these formats: artistname – songtitle artistname – albumtitle . If you have an EP or album or you’re on multiple labels, include them in brackets at either end of your username. For example: artistname [labelname] – songtitlename or artistname [label1][label2] – albumbasic . Keep your track names short!
5) Poor Bio Information
The bio section is one of your first chances to really engage with a potential fan and make them want to stick around and listen to your music. Try telling fans a little bit about yourself—what you do in real life, how long you’ve been making music for, what kind of music you usually make. Don’t make it too dry—throw in some personality! Your followers will appreciate learning something about you. And if they see that there are people who actually follow you, they’ll be more likely to follow you themselves.
6) Not Reaching Out to Users Directly
Just because you have fans on SoundCloud doesn’t mean they like your music. If you truly want to grow your fan base and reach as many people as possible, it’s time to start thinking outside of just posting new tracks every week. The best way to grow your fan base on a smaller platform is through direct outreach with your users. Identify potential users who are most likely interested in what you offer and reach out directly. Offer them free promotion in exchange for listening, sharing, or following—or pay for clicks and likes if that’s more in-line with your budget. The point is you want engaged fans who will help expand your community organically, which is how real growth happens in today’s digital age!
7) No Cover Image and Profile Picture
Many new artists often forget to set up their profile with a cover image and a profile picture. Potential fans who are browsing through popular tracks on SoundCloud will see your page, but they won’t be able to recognize it, because it doesn’t have anything attached to it. It may seem like a small thing, but these days many people decide whether or not they are going to listen to an artist based on his/her profile image and avatar. Having these things set up helps you instantly connect with potential fans as soon as they see your page, which can make all of the difference in growing your audience early on.
8) No Proper Tags in Your MP3 Files
You should always tag your MP3 files with a Title, Artist, and Album. Otherwise, you’ll end up with hundreds of tracks on your profile but no way to differentiate them from each other—making it difficult for people to find what they’re looking for. This can be frustrating for fans who aren’t interested in hearing every song you’ve ever recorded; they probably just want to download one or two tunes by their favorite band. Also, if you don’t have all three tags in your MP3 file, then your submission will likely be automatically rejected (you might not get an email explaining why), so take some time to add these tags if you haven’t already.
9) Not Using Labels Correctly
Labels are extremely important when it comes to sharing music, as they help categorize your content and inform other users of what to expect. When properly used, labels can have a huge impact on how your track is received by future listeners—but they’re also one of many common mistakes artists make on SoundCloud. To ensure you’re doing everything possible to stand out from other musicians and get discovered, here are 10 things to avoid.
10) Lack of Personal Branding
One of the most common mistakes artists make on SoundCloud is not branding themselves. When new artists sign up for an account, they are often too busy posting music and promoting their tracks to focus on developing a personal brand. However, if you want to grow a following and eventually build a sustainable career in music, you need to actively market yourself as an artist by making sure your profile includes your artist name (as well as any stage names), some biographical information about yourself and links to any websites that support your musical endeavors.
11) Not Choosing the Right Site to Buy SoundCloud Plays
Sure, getting your music heard and shared by the people, can be really challenging over SoundCloud, especially if you are a newbie over there. So no wonder why many people look for the best site to buy SoundCloud plays. While it is really easy to buy SoundCloud Plays, make sure to choose the right vendor or site to buy SoundCloud plays.