Past now, most folks take said their goodbyes to concrete media. Although vinyl has made a bit of a improvement. This is because the early 2000s ushered in a new era of music distribution in the form of digital download stores and streaming platforms.

Apple tree introduced the iTunes Store in 2003, and since then, we've seen YouTube Music, Spotify, Pandora, Amazon Music, and many others abound in popularity. And if you're a music lover, SoundCloud is likely a name you've heard of every bit well.

In this article, we'll hash out what SoundCloud is, exactly what the platform provides, and whether or not you'll need to pull your wallet out of your pocket to enjoy it.

What Is SoundCloud?

SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform that was founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss. They met while studying at the KTH Purple Found of Technology, a university known for beingness i of the best schools in the world for computer science. Having bonded over a mutual dear for music, they decided they wanted to create something like Flickr or WordPress but for audio.

What started every bit a modest community for artists to promote their audio offerings has get a strong choice for indie musicians to actually get themselves out there. Post Malone, Chance the Rapper, and Kehlani are but a few mainstream music artists that originally started their careers on SoundCloud.

SoundCloud is now a streaming service, a distribution platform for new and upcoming artists, and an online community for fans. But at its cadre, SoundCloud is all about letting you discover and mind to new music.

At the time of writing, there are over 175 million registered SoundCloud users and over 200 one thousand thousand uploaded tracks. You lot can access SoundCloud on both the desktop website and mobile app.

Is SoundCloud Free?

The Soundcloud app on the home screen of an iPhone

Listening to music on SoundCloud online is completely costless and you don't even need to create an account to practice and so. In order to upload and comment on tracks, however, yous will need to annals. Free users have an upload limit of three hours of audio, and file sizes cannot exceed 4GB. Additionally, a track created by a free user can only be downloaded a maximum of 100 times.

If your account exceeds iii hours of uploaded audio, uploading will exist temporarily disabled. To continue uploading, you volition need to brand space for new uploads by either deleting older tracks to get under the gratuitous limit, or by upgrading to the Pro Unlimited paid plan.

What Is Repost by SoundCloud?

Repost is a small upgrade to the costless basic SoundCloud account. For $30/twelvemonth, you tin can unlock the post-obit features:

  • Upload track artwork
  • Monetize rails plays
  • Get unlimited distribution across all major streaming services
  • Select which regions can play your tracks
  • Pitch your tracks to top playlists
  • Promote on the SoundCloud Discover page
  • Split revenue with collaborators (e.g. fellow band or collective members)
  • Proceeds access to SoundCloud's hub of resources from music industry professionals
  • Go guaranteed 1-24-hour interval support responses
A screenshot of the Soundcloud Discover page

What Is SoundCloud Pro Unlimited?

Users that pay $144/year for SoundCloud Pro Unlimited take access to all of the basic business relationship functions, everything Repost has to offer, and a multitude of other features that you might be interested in if yous take music seriously:

  • Upload tracks that are upwardly to six hours and 45 minutes long in length
  • No limit on number of uploaded tracks or how many times your tracks can be downloaded
  • Replace an already-uploaded rail with a new file (keeping the plays, stats, and comments untouched)
  • Be more in-affect with your audience with advanced look at listener insights
  • Turn off commenting and viewing public stats
  • Become offered discounts from SoundCloud's hardware and software partners
  • Access to sectional Gobbler-SoundCloud suite of audio plugins
  • 24/7 live chat support

What Are SoundCloud Get and SoundCloud Get+?

You don't demand to be a producer to improve your feel with SoundCloud. With SoundCloud Go for $4.99/month, you tin save SoundCloud tracks for offline listening, and mind online without advertisements. SoundCloud Go+, which is priced at $ix.99/month, gives y'all high quality audio, and access to an exclusive library of A-listing tracks that simply Become+ subscribers accept.

If you are a educatee enrolled at a Title Iv degree-granting college or academy, you tin can get SoundCloud Get+ for fifty percent off for upward to iv years.

Two adults listening to music and grooving to it together

SoundCloud Is a Great Place to Observe New Music

SoundCloud is a streaming service, distribution platform, and online community that all the same delivers on its initial hope of allowing users to discover and share all kinds of music. Even with the ascent of competing platforms, it has managed to stay on the pulse of trends and continue to provide a space for artists to promote themselves.

The viii Best Costless Online Music Streaming Services With No Limitations

Read Next

About The Author

Jessibelle Garcia (268 Articles Published)

About days, yous can detect Jessibelle curled upward underneath a weighted blanket in a cozy apartment in Canada. She is a freelance writer that loves digital art, video games, and gothic style.

More From Jessibelle Garcia