SoundCloud is moving deeper into direct-to-fan commerce with a new feature allowing artists to sell downloadable music directly from their profiles, without sending listeners to an external store.
The feature is currently being tested with 200 US-based Artist Pro creators and represents another step in SoundCloud’s effort to turn its platform from a place primarily associated with discovery and streaming into a more complete ecosystem for independent artists.
Most notably, SoundCloud will take zero commission from music sales, allowing artists to retain 100% of the sale price, excluding standard payment fees and applicable taxes.
From Streaming to Direct Ownership
The new system allows listeners to purchase and download tracks directly through an artist’s SoundCloud profile. Artists will be able to set their own prices and make releases available in formats including MP3 and WAV.
For independent producers, particularly those working in electronic music, the addition could prove significant. Download culture remains deeply connected to DJing, where high-quality digital files are still essential for building sets and maintaining personal music libraries.
Instead of discovering a track on SoundCloud and then navigating to another marketplace to purchase it, listeners will be able to move from discovery to ownership within the same platform.
Participating artists will also be able to monitor purchases through Artist Studio and the Fan Support Dashboard, bringing sales information into SoundCloud’s existing creator infrastructure.
SoundCloud Sees Demand for Music Purchases
The decision appears to be responding to behavior already happening across the platform.
According to SoundCloud, approximately 250,000 artists currently direct listeners toward external services to purchase their music, with around 2.4 million tracks carrying external purchase links. Those links send roughly 500,000 SoundCloud users to outside stores each year.
SoundCloud also found that 28% of artists surveyed either already sell digital downloads or are interested in doing so.
By bringing those transactions directly onto SoundCloud, the company is attempting to remove friction from a process that already exists between artists and their most engaged listeners.
Building a Direct-to-Fan Ecosystem
Direct music purchases will become part of SoundCloud’s broader Fan Support ecosystem, joining existing tools including Fan-Powered Royalties, on-demand vinyl and ticketing.
The strategy reflects a larger shift toward giving artists more ways to monetize the relationship with their audience beyond conventional streaming royalties.
SoundCloud also sees significant potential in the relationship between artists and their most dedicated listeners. According to the company’s research, superfans can spend as much as five times more on music and artists than casual listeners, suggesting that deeper direct-to-fan connections could open up meaningful new revenue opportunities for creators.
Artists should be able to build their audience in one place, on one platform. SoundCloud has always been where artists find their first fans and build real communities. We’re continuing to bring more of what they need to grow their careers into that same experience, while letting fans directly support the music they love.
said Eliah Seton, CEO of SoundCloud.
The company plans to use feedback from the initial 200 Artist Pro participants to refine the service before making it available to more eligible creators later this fall.
A Changing Market for Independent Music
The move places SoundCloud more directly within a market traditionally associated with artist-focused platforms such as Bandcamp, where purchasing music has long been positioned as a way for listeners to financially support independent musicians.
SoundCloud’s approach, however, connects that purchasing model with something the platform already possesses at enormous scale: music discovery.
The development also follows SoundCloud’s recent acquisition of Nina Protocol, an independent blockchain-based music platform that enabled creators to operate their own digital stores. Nina Protocol’s original owners had announced plans to wind down the service after five years of operation before the acquisition.
SoundCloud had already expanded its creator infrastructure in late 2025 with an all-in-one artist subscription offering combining distribution, fan support and merchandise tools.
Could SoundCloud Become a Digital Record Store Again?
There is an interesting circularity to the move. Long before streaming became the dominant way audiences consumed music, electronic music culture was built around ownership. DJs bought vinyl, CDs and eventually digital files, while specialist record stores became important filters connecting artists with scenes.
SoundCloud has historically occupied another crucial position in that chain: discovery. Countless electronic producers built their earliest audiences through uploads, reposts, DJ mixes and underground tracks circulating across the platform.
Adding direct purchases could bring discovery and ownership considerably closer together.
For independent electronic artists, the appeal is straightforward. A listener could hear an unknown producer for the first time, follow them, purchase the track and directly support their work without leaving the artist’s profile.
Whether that behavior develops at scale will depend on what happens after the beta. But if SoundCloud can successfully turn casual listeners into paying supporters, direct sales could become one of the platform’s more consequential creator tools, particularly for underground artists whose careers are built around dedicated communities rather than streaming numbers alone.
📷 : Cover Photo / Tima Miroshnichenko (CCO License) AI-modified
📷 : Additional Photo Credits / Anna Pou (CCO License), John Taran (CCO License), Isaiah Ekele (CCO License), Cottonbro Studio / (CCO License) AI-modified
