Monetizing Music on SoundCloud without a Label and What You Need to Know
Published on 29.08.2025 by TF
Selling your music is no longer what it used to be. If you wanted to get paid for your music, you had to sign with a label, give up some control, and wait for them to give you the thumbs up. But now, the internet’s changed all that.
SoundCloud is one of the many apps that gives artists the power to manage themselves and their music independently. The app gets rid of the need for a label, allowing artists to retain all their earnings and royalties. No need for any scam deals that split your earnings with a corporation.
As you read on, we’ll go over setting up your account right, understanding SoundCloud Pro, and using features that let fans support you. With these, you can turn those streams into cash and do it your way, preserving your artistic integrity and your monetary gains all through a single platform.
Why Artists Go Without a Label
Before we get into exactly how you can build a profile and brand that caters to your audience, it’s important to know that you’re not the only artist doing it all alone. Artists who go alone make big decisions. They have all the creative freedom they need to decide how they sound, how they look, and when they release their music. Everything works just as they want it to with no external pressure.
When artists go without a label, it gives them the freedom to express themselves—freedom to talk to their fans directly and receive feedback that affects how you put out your music. You get to make your own relationships, without any third party.
The absence of a label also means there’s no one getting your earnings apart from you. This doesn’t mean that you get paid more, but it does mean that you won’t have to be a part of some deal that splits your profits.
Being an independent artist also lets you learn how things work. Making money and putting out your content on your own gives artists a better idea of the music business. It allows them to learn of the smaller tricks that work for many other solo artists.
Step 1 – Setting Up a SoundCloud For Artists Account
SoundCloud has its own platform for musicians. SoundCloud For Artists was designed to help artists earn from their music. Artists can do this by:
- Creating a SoundCloud account
- Going to soundcloud.com/forartists
- Following the steps to switch their account
- Setting up their account properly
When setting up their music profile, artists need to start with a clear profile picture—one that lets people see who they are and what they have to offer. This gives people an insight into the vibe they should expect with an artist.
Then comes the bio, where you’re meant to talk about who you are and why you make music. Some artists even use this space to show off a bit of their own personality.
The sense of originality is what many listeners are looking for. Fans are looking for artists that stand out from the crowd, and it’s even better if you can add some relatability to get the listeners hooked.
Step 2 – Understanding the Requirements For Monetizing Your Music
Not everyone can start getting paid on SoundCloud right away. You’ll have to meet some basic requirements to join their money-making programs.
As an independent artist, you’ll need:
- Your Own Original Music: Uploaded songs cannot be remixes. You must have all the rights to your music.
- Have At Least One Song Uploaded: To be eligible, you need to start posting your music.
- Number of Streams Above Threshold: Some features need a minimum number of plays each month for you to be eligible. This changes depending on where you live. Head over to SoundCloud’s page to find out how many streams you need.
- Payment Info: A way for SoundCloud to send your money to you.
- Be in the Right Country: Unfortunately, earning on SoundCloud isn’t for everyone. SoundCloud only offers these revenue programs in some countries. Head over to SoundCloud to see which countries make it to their approved list.
Step 3 – Getting SoundCloud Pro
SoundCloud also comes with its subscription called SoundCloud Pro. It’s for artists who want to be in control of their music and want more app features. While the subscription isn’t necessary to start earning, it’ll help to get it.
With SoundCloud Pro, you can get double the upload space. Instead of limiting yourself to only three hours of music, you can upload up to six! You’ll also get access to more informative statistics that let you see how your music is consumed. You can review who’s listening to the songs and the demographics that make up your audience base.
SoundCloud Pro also has a feature that lets you receive royalties from fans. This is a source of direct income that takes your fans’ support and turns it into money.
Purchasing SoundCloud Pro removes the restriction of being able to upload a certain number of songs to your page. This gives you the liberty to upload as many songs as you like, and you can post them whenever you like! SoundCloud Pro allows artists to plan when music is released and set up automatic times for the songs to go up.
Step 4 – Making Money With Fan Royalties
One of SoundCloud’s money-making programs includes fan-powered royalties. At first, SoundCloud used to send out payments based on a pool system. Here, the pool was divided based on people getting the most listens, but that only worked for the big artists.
Now, it works to pay you depending on how much each fan listens to your music. If your fans only listen to your music for a month, their whole subscription money goes straight to you. When a bigger chunk of your audience listens to more of your music, you earn more from it.
This payment method is great for independent artists because it ensures that your pay is fairer. The amount of plays you get doesn’t matter, but what does matter is that your fans are listening to your music.
Fan-powered royalties also ensure that you don’t need a label. You don’t need someone promoting your music as long as a small group of fans are listening to what you produce.
SoundCloud’s royalties program also gives you a clearer view of who’s listening to your music and where your money is coming from. This lets you see the top fans that contribute to your earnings.
To start earning from fan-powered royalties, you’ll need to subscribe to SoundCloud for Artists’ paid programs. That can be done once you meet the requirements set down by SoundCloud, but this depends on which country you are from. Therefore, we highly suggest confirming whether this feature is available to you.
Step 5 – Using Fan Support
Fan support on SoundCloud isn’t limited to fan-powered royalties. The app also has other tools that let fans support you directly.
These can include features like the “Support This Artist” button, which works exactly the way it says. It allows fans to donate to you through certain payment methods.
SoundCloud also allows you to promote your merch openly. You can share the things you sell in a way that comes up clearly to your fans.
Step 6 – Putting Music Out Regularly
Consistent posting isn’t just a trick for social media platforms. It also works for music streaming services like SoundCloud.
Being reliable and consistent is a big factor that drives a solo artist’s income, and that’s why many independent artists come up with their own plans that give them an idea about when they should be posting and how much they should be posting.
This could be a content calendar, but for music. This works because they work on a bunch of music at a time. It helps make the most of their creative flow state so that tracks aren’t worked on from scratch. That’s what helps many artists create similar-sounding albums.
Independent artists also benefit a lot from SoundCloud Pro’s scheduled posting. This feature makes it convenient and easy for artists to set up when their music should go up automatically. That way, there’s no manual effort needed later on.
Many solo artists also bring continuous listens by promoting their older music. It’s a way of keeping their profile active and boosting engagement throughout.
Step 8 – Seeing How Your Music is Performing
When an artist goes solo, managing everything is up to them, and that includes knowing how their music is doing. The good thing about a label is that issues like these don’t fall onto the artist.
But once you go solo, tracking metrics is going to have to become a habit. It’s what helps you understand the type of music your fans like the most. Most solo artists track these metrics:
- Plays per track
- Likes per track
- Listening demographics
- Monetization statistics
Keeping track of these allows artists to see what’s getting them the recognition they want.
Final Thoughts
In 2025, making money with your music without a label is no longer just a possibility. It’s something that’s way more doable than it used to be, and that’s because of platforms like SoundCloud.
SoundCloud is a platform built for artists to offer better ways to get paid and offer more options for artists. It’s built to help them have more control than ever.
But it’s not an easy process to go solo. It means shouldering a lot of responsibility and doing all the hard work that the label does for you.
At the same time, it lets you be who you are, be more direct with your fans, and be in charge of the way you come across to your fans. With SoundCloud by your side, you can use its tools to turn your music-making hobby into an income stream.