Building a Loyal Fanbase Through SoundCloud Playlists
Published on 09.10.2025 by TF
Every new music artist’s ideal is to get to that committed fan base who stream, but who also post, discuss, and attend when it really counts. That set of fans is built up over time, but at least the payoff is that modern-day digital resources provide you with your best possible opportunity to get in front of the fans that get what you’re doing.
Of all of the tools, SoundCloud is probably one of the best community-based tools for new musicians. It takes more than uploading a song and hoping the algorithm sprinkles fairy dust on it. To go big, consider how listeners find music and why they keep artists. Playlists, surprisingly, are still one of the greatest ways to do it.
They’re not arbitrary jams to a run or last work commute—they’re short epics which convert the listener through atmosphere or narrative. And if you’re an artist from a particular place, playlists are absolutely irresistible. They’re not only pushing your music; they’re linking your music to a place and an identity.
When they’re done well, they can convert casual fans into hardcore believers who feel they’re part of the music culture of your city—and that’s the kind of loyalty that sticks.
Why SoundCloud Playlists Matter for Local Growth
SoundCloud is a discovery platform in its own right. Where other large stream services algorithmically spoon-feed the hits, SoundCloud makes space for independent artists to be heard. Playlists go one step further in facilitating artists to create experiences rather than dumping tracks into a void.
Consider playlists as gateways. A listener will click because they notice another artist on your list, but later find themselves with your song next to them.
It's a discovery like they were invited to it by a friend. Your music now isn’t in competition, but a part of the bigger, richer sound landscape.
This has a massive effect on a local basis. When you include local tunes from where you live, you’re placing yourself in a comfortable situation that local fans can understand. You’re not one of the names on one of the innumerable lists of music uploads—you’re one of the musicians helping create the soundtrack of your local area.
This makes individuals much more likely to recall you, follow you, and eventually show up when you play in town.
Creating Playlists That Narrate a Story
A good playlist doesn’t just pool a few songs together—it tells a story. Music storytelling is so wonderful because it provides listeners with a reason to listen straight through. It takes a set of sounds and transforms it into an emotional experience that people will want to repeat.
Just consider “Friday Nights in [Your City]” for example. You incorporate your own songs and other people’s songs that have that week-ending feel. Now, your playlist’s all about identity instead of music. People get to feel like they’re part of something specific, from a specific place and atmosphere, and that is what keeps them coming back.
This method sets you apart in a crowded space, as well. Most playlists are simply “study beats” or “chill vibes,” but a narrative gives your personality. You’re not listening to music; you’re taking the listener through chapters, creating tones, and finishing with a flourish.
If you approach playlists as a journey, you build stronger emotional connections and thus get people to care about your music more.
Prioritizing Local Expertise to Develop Community
Playlists aren’t just promotion, but they’re promotion of the right kind: they show you’re interested in your local scene. Naming other acts from your hometown is one of the best ways of forging affinity and broadening your fan base.
When fans of other artists hear you, they’ll be hearing you in a space they already feel comfortable in and at home in. That sort of promotion generates goodwill in society. Artists will realize whether you’re actually promoting them, and they’ll be glad to promote you, too.
That can be putting you on their playlist, promoting you on social media, or even collaborating. Gradually, the small acts of promoting one another generate a chain reaction by which everyone moves forward.
Fans respond to that spirit of community, as well. We naturally respond to vibrant, cooperative, and uplifting images. When you market playlists that bring to light the new talent of your own hometown, you become known as an artist and cultural ambassador. Fans would not just regard you as a streaming-seeker but as a part of something bigger, and that makes you that much bigger.
Using Playlists as a Network Asset
Playlists aren’t just reaching fans, but they’re an amazing networking device for other artists, producers, and tastemakers within your local community. By creating playlists of local bands, you’re doing something that shows respect and admiration. It’s you telling the world you’re hearing what they’re doing, and that can open up a dialogue that never would’ve otherwise occurred.
Put yourself in the mindset of visiting an artist and telling him/her that you have featured one of his/her songs in a playlist. That little shot of sweetness can lead to future collaboration, cross-promotion, or shared stages at live performances.
In the arts, those meetings often become as valuable as the music. Over time, the routine turns your playlists into something more than a one-man affair—they become tools for building community.
Other artists begin to regard you not only as an artist but as one who creates opportunities for other artists. These types of credentials are worth something in terms of trust and respect, and they’re something you’ll need to build when you’re trying to make it in a crowded local music scene.
Connecting Your Audience Beyond the Music
Sharing a playlist is just the beginning. The alchemy is that you actively involve your fans in how you think about it. Rather than having your playlists on your page, discuss them. Share them on Facebook, on Twitter, and so on, and tell us why you’ve included certain songs. Then, ask your fans to recommend songs they think belong in the list.
This back-and-forth process makes your followers feel like they’re being included. If you incorporate their suggestion or name-check their local act, they’re going to be a whole lot more likely to share the playlist with their own group. That kind of word-of-mouth growth can’t be bought because it’s rooted in actual excitement and not artificial promotion.
Interaction gives you an opportunity to reveal personality. Listeners aren’t tuning in to hear music to be treated to tunes; they’re getting to understand you as a personality.
A humorous account of how you heard a song or an emotional account of why you respond to a song can be used to bring some humanity to your brand and strengthen attachment to the end user.
Linking Playlists to Live Events
Playlists can be as effective as promotion to push live shows and get people out in person. You can release a lineup of a hometown show, for instance, as a playlist ahead of time.
In this way, you not only get to create advanced word of mouth on the show but also get to share the music with fans first. The show then becomes part of an experience they initiated online.
Then, after the event, you can complete the playlist of live performances, remixes, or other tracks by involved artists. It adds longevity to the event and provides an excuse for people to listen to the playlist well after that night of the performance.
It’s, essentially, a virtual keepsake—a memory attached to your performance and the spirit of your local scene. It also makes you a bigger name as an artist familiar with the culture of the city you live in. Your fans start to relate the playlists you generate to the excitement of face-to-face meetings, and that emotional tie is much harder to establish via streams.
The closer you can link the work you do via the internet to face-to-face meetings, the steadier and more loyal your core of fans.
Building a Brand Through Consistency
To build lasting traction on playlists, you have to be consistent. Putting out a playlist and then waiting half a year or so isn’t going to build the traction you want. View playlists as an ongoing part of your musical brand—something that your fans can expect to see regularly.
This does not mean you have to drop new playlists every week, but you should always have something on the horizon. Perhaps you can drop a bi-monthly local feature, seasonal playlist, or event-based playlist in your community.
If there’s something that fans can count on getting from you, there’s expectation and consistency. That consistency builds trust, and that’s what creates long-term fan interaction.
Consistency makes you a better brand, too. Eventually, your playlists will begin to make fans not just feel what you’re into musically, but what you are and what you represent.
That’s a type of branding that puts you one step ahead in a competitive market. Playlists aren’t ambient music anymore, but instead become a signature of who you are as an artist.
Tracking the Effect of Your Playlists
As with any other strategy for growth, be sure to monitor what works and doesn’t. SoundCloud provides analytics that can inform you precisely how listeners are responding to the playlists you create, what songs of yours are being heard, and where exactly you are getting listeners worldwide. By analyzing such information, you can adapt and focus on what does work for you and your followers.
Similarly, if you can identify that a playlist by regional acts performs much better compared to one that’s filled with top hits, that’s a safe bet that a locally-focused strategy is paying off.
If there are songs that are consistently underserved, you can apply that information to right-size the curation. The idea is not to be obsessed over numbers, but as a reference. Statistics help you get to know your fans on a one-on-one basis, and if you incorporate creativity into the equation, you can frame playlists into experiences fans can’t wait for.
Eventually, you can measure how those exercises translate into the outright expansion of your fanbase, both online and in your hometown.
Collaborations with Local Influencers and Curators
The second method of leveling SoundCloud playlists is collaborating with local influencers, curators, or DJs. They are individuals who already have fans within the city you live in, and you’ll immediately expand past what you currently have if you collaborate.
Picture collaborating with one of the best local DJs and creating a playlist together, or having a popular blogger guest-pick his/her go-to indie jams within the city. Immediately, your playlist can no longer just be yours alone—it’s part of the big picture of the local landscape.
Such combinations lend credibility as well. When seasoned veterans in one’s network become part of the crew, the listener feels respect for you. It’s less of an artist striving to push one’s agenda and more of a cooperative endeavor to offer the best of local music.
The authenticity can be felt amongst fans and makes you more willing to trust one’s judgment. Such collaborative projects, in the long run, can escalate into larger opportunities from co-billed shows to promotion showcases.
Through the influence of other people within your scene, you not only grow the fanbase of your playlist, but you also become known as one of the hometown music scene’s connectors.
Using Social Media to Increase Reach
Playlists alone are cool, but they’re much cooler when you promote them via social media. Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter are great places to preview, discuss what you’re featuring on your playlists, and tag the artists you’re featuring. Not only does having other ears to spin what you’re culling help, but having other artists whose reposts can garner other hits on what you have to offer.
Keep the copy snappy and to the point to suit the occasion. A 15-second TikTok featuring the spirit of your playlist philosophy, or an Instagram story showcasing behind-the-scenes footage of you making yours, can generate curiosity. You can create polls featuring special local acts that get the users emotionally attached to the result.
Make an effort to reach out beyond SoundCloud itself. When they always see you on their timelines, they start to equate your name and the art of finding new, wonderful tunes. That’s what causes accidental fans to become loyal ones to stream not only your tunes, but to spread the word within their own communities.
Make Playlists a Scalable Source of Growth
They can begin as a labor of love, but if you use them as a habit, they can be the foundation of your career. They allow you to talk to fans, interact with contemporaries, and be heard as a tastemaker in the space.
By virtue of that reputation, as part of your artist persona, you’re more than a singer—you’re a curator of culture. This long-term strategy does count because music careers aren’t always built on some viral moment. Long-term growth happens from steady work, which deepens your relationship and expands your scope.
Having really well-curated playlists that push both your music and your scene is how you earn a reputation of consistency and authenticity. Fans start to embrace you as one component of the local music process and not just another artist passing through.
When you combine playlists with live performances, collaborations, and social promotions, they are some of your strongest weapons. They make fans listen, but they convert listeners into loyalists who’ll be with you for the long haul.
Conclusion
Creating a local fanbase isn’t about pursuing numbers so much as creating real connections that hold strong in the long term. SoundCloud playlists provide independent artists with one means of doing just that.
They enable you to post your own music, but as part of the greater story of your collective, transforming fleeting interest into rabid fandom because they can see you as part of something beyond yourself.
By consciously creating playlists—either through narration, local artist incorporation, bridge-making, or nexus creation through live performances—yours become more than ambient music. They become cultural markers revealing your ethos, sensibility, and artistic persona. When infused, in addition, with a layer of consistency, crossovers, and intelligent social media enabling, the effect gets multiplied.
Your creation of a fanbase takes time and energy, but playlists make that whole thing so much more fascinating, to yourself and to the fans. They let you be the lord of thy own manor, to reach out, and to be the soundtrack of thy hometown in a real way. And in the long haul, that’s what develops not just fans, but a tribe of believers in what you do that grows in parallel!