SoundCloud Pro Review 2025: Pricing, Features & Everything You Need to Know

Top Reason to Choose Soundcloud

Discovery and increased rates

SoundCloud promises to deliver your first 100 streams through an algorithmic boost that will land your track in the music recommendations of its users. It’s like Spotify’s Discovery Mode but without any requirements other than distributing music through SoundCloud. One of the two biggest pain points with music distribution is Discovery, and this feature addresses that. Consider it a springboard because if people positively respond to your music, it’ll make its way into more recommendations, which could result in far more than 100 streams. If you’re setting up distribution and searching the internet for information on how to get your music heard, this feature is for you.

SoundCloud isn’t a distribution company; it’s a music streaming service that does music distribution. Long considered the YouTube of audio, this distinction is what makes it uniquely positioned to deliver on such a promise as getting your music its first 100 streams. Additionally, when you sign up for distribution through SoundCloud, you’re signing up for Next Pro, which bundles other SoundCloud features with distribution. With your SoundCloud bundle comes the ability to master up to 3 tracks per month, gain access to advanced audience insights, private track uploads, fan messaging, the ability to submit music to the SoundCloud SiriusXM radio station, and increase SoundCloud royalties through their Fan-powered model.

Top Features

Audience Insights 

SoundCloud's Audience Insights are incredibly powerful because, unlike most of its competitors in the streaming market: Spotify, Apple Music, etc., it tells you who’s streaming your music and not just where. You can see a girl named Julie from Omaha has been streaming your song 30 times a week. Its features open the door to better relationship building because not only can you message Julie directly, but you have the option of taking a subtler approach by doing something like giving her a shoutout in SoundCloud’s Timed comments. Additionally, you have an opportunity to gain further insight into the interests of your listeners by visiting their profiles and seeing which other artists they’re fanning out on, visiting their connected social media accounts to see what their interests are beyond music, etc. You can use it to gain a full understanding of the listeners who are most passionate about your music.

Fan-Powered Royalties

With Fan-Powered-Royalties, the revenue generated by individual listeners gets divided between the artists they stream. A user paying $10 a month for a subscription to SoundCloud Go that streams your music 90% of the time would have 90% of their $10 subscription fee go to you. Building a catalog and a fanbase to consume it could allow you to make a living off of your music through SoundCloud alone.

Internal Advertising

You can run targeted ads on SoundCloud to drive streams of your track using Promoted Tracks. This has your song appear at the top of the Feeds of SoundCloud users who can stream it, heart it, Repost it, and take all the normal actions they could take with any other track listed in their feed. What’s key is that everyone you reach with an ad on SoundCloud is a SoundCloud user, and if they’re checking their music Feed, they’re likely a dedicated user, which means long-term activity if they like your song and add it to their libraries. With Facebook ads, artists hope the people they reach are subscribed to one streaming platform or another and that they’ll go there to listen to their music. The reality is that most people aren’t subscribed to anything, which leads to spending major money for minor returns. This remedies that.

Benefits

SoundCloud Pro comes with discounts on partnering services. Free Feature.fm subscription - includes pixel integration. Discounted access to AI tools like Neural Frames - 50% off for two months. Discounted access to stem-splitting tools like AudioShake - 70% off. There's a lot of value added. 

The Rundown 

Model:  

Unlimited distribution for an annual fee 

Price: 

$4.50/Month billed annually at $54 

Transaction Fees: 

ACH - US: $0 

PayPal - US 2% 

Stores: 

Unlimited Inventory 

Distribution to New Stores: 

Undisclosed 

Artists: 

Unlimited

Split Pay: 

Included - Free

Keeps Music Live: 

No - Music removed from all stores if you no longer have a subscription 

Exclusivity:

No Exclusivity clause. 

Customer Support:

Ok 

Content ID:

Yes - 30% of Royalties

AI Licensing Rule

No official policy or plans to allow AI to access artists' music for LLM 

Streaming Fraud 

Removal + Fine 

Music Fights Fraud Alliance Member 

Yes - If you have been banned by another distributor, you may automatically be banned by SoundCloud. Music Fights Fraud is a database of artists that have been flagged. 

KYA (Know-Your-Artist) / KYC (Know-Your-Customer)

This is promoted as a protective tool and requires you to upload your State ID to verify your identity. The Music Fights Fraud alliance and its members have plans to use this information for their database, which will likely be used for global bans and work as a No-Fly list for music distribution. 

No - SoundCloud does not require KYA/KYC 

UPC Codes:

Included + Bring your own 

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Rating 

Transparency: Great. Customer support: Ok. Payment: Great - you can avoid any fees by having funds sent directly to your bank account. Stores: Great - extensive library of stores. Features: Great. Longevity: Great. Fees: Great - BeatPort, Dolby Atmos, Shazam, and other platforms don't cost extra. Red Flags: none. Track Record: Great. 

 Final Assessment 

SoundCloud distribution is a perk of SoundCloud Pro. The best features of SoundCloud Pro have nothing to do with distribution: Fan-powered royalties, Free promotion, Audience insights, and Fan messaging. These are all features unique to SoundCloud's music platform. On its own, without distribution, SoundCloud Pro is a great service, so even if an artist already has distribution or wants to use another distribution service, there's still room for SoundCloud Pro. SoundCloud distribution is on par with other top distribution services as far as stores, delivery, and other essentials. One area where it could do better is with royalty reporting. The dashboard is inflexible; you can't filter by song, platform, country, etc. SoundCloud isn't trying to be the best music distribution service; it's a throw-in. SoundCloud is focused on making the best SoundCloud. A release finding success on platforms like Spotify using its service could impact the promotion of the release on SoundCloud, which carries tremendous value. 

Take a tour of SoundCloud Pro's Website: SoundCloud.com