// THE VERGE — MOBILE & WEB
You can now buy music on SoundCloud
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A new beta feature lets artists sell tracks directly on their profile, and SoundCloud won’t take a cut.
A new beta feature lets artists sell tracks directly on their profile, and SoundCloud won’t take a cut.
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SoundCloud has launched a new beta feature that allows artists on the audio streaming platform to sell music directly from their profiles, instead of diverting fans to purchase from third-party services like Bandcamp and Beatport. The feature aims to give listeners a better way to support the musicians behind their favorite songs, because SoundCloud isn’t taking any commission from these sales — meaning everything goes directly to the artists.
By comparison, Bandcamp takes a cut of between 10-15 percent for sales, and artists on Beatport receive roughly 50-65 percent of their sale price. More than 250,000 artists have linked over 2.4 million tracks to external music platforms, according to SoundCloud, and the platform says it sends more than half a million users to external parties to purchase music each year.
The ability to sell music will only be available to 200 Artist Pro SoundCloud creators in the US to start, with plans to expand access to all eligible creators later this fall. Fans can purchase music “in the format provided by the artist,” according to SoundCloud, such as MP3 or WAV files.