For new artists SoundCloud still matters
SoundCloud has long positioned itself as an alternative to Spotify and other paid-upload streaming platforms. Today, especially in electronic and hip-hop, for new artists SoundCloud still matters.
For new artists SoundCloud still matters
by Ben Jolley via Chartmetric
Founded in Berlin in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud launched its website a year later and has since become one of the most popular music streaming platforms among artists and fans. Initially designed for musicians to share and discuss recordings, it evolved into a platform for music distribution, challenging MySpace’s then-dominance in the field. Crucially, this emphasis on collaboration enabled artists to release songs directly to fans without needing a record label or distributor.
By 2012, SoundCloud had 15 million registered users, rising to 150 million by 2015, with the rap scene becoming increasingly popular. As documented by NME, Lil Pump and Juice Wrld landed major deals off the back of ‘Gucci Gang’ and ‘Lucid Dreams’, while Doja Cat, Lil Uzi Vert and Playboi Carti followed similar paths. Away from rap, the platform’s biggest success story has been global megastar Billie Eilish, whose early success on SoundCloud resulted in her signing with Interscope Records.
For New Artists SoundCloud As A Catalyst
Fast forwarding to the 2020s, SoundCloud has remained a haven for experimentation and early-stage discovery. Its open-upload structure and social features continue to empower emerging talent across genres – especially within electronic, rap, and DIY music scenes.
According to data from Chartmetric, artists across genres are still turning to SoundCloud first to build audiences. The data highlights the artists with the largest percentage increase in SoundCloud followers over the past year—focused on those with over 10k followers and 10k streams, and in the “developing” or “mid-level” stages of their careers.
Topping the list for June 5, 2024 to June 5, 2025 was British dance producer Josh Baker, whose SoundCloud followers have increased massively by 178% from 13.5k to 37.6k. Behind him were Capochino (+140% followers) and Club Angel (+135%). Notably, 9 out of the 10 artists on the list were electronic artists and producers.
Zooming out further to early 2023, the top three artists saw SoundCloud plays rise earlier and more rapidly than their Spotify monthly listeners, suggesting that their fanbases took root on SoundCloud first. Across the top 10 trending artists, more than half experienced equal or greater percentage increases in SoundCloud plays compared to Spotify listeners.
While this handful of artists is only a snapshot of the 12 million artists tracked on Chartmetric across DSPs, their trajectories offer insight into the powers of SoundCloud as an early alternative to paid-upload services.
Josh Baker’s Playbook
In a YouTube video, Baker explains how he leveraged SoundCloud early in his career. After uploading his tracks to the platform, he used Facebook to find artists within the scene and emailed them links to his music. Thanks to SoundCloud’s stats, he could see who had downloaded the tracks, and would then search their Instagram for videos of them playing his songs live. This meticulous approach paid off, and resulted in his songs being spun by tech-house scene leaders including Jamie Jones.
“Honestly, I think a DJ playing your music is more powerful than a release on a label,” he suggests in the video, adding that “it shows a track is actually doing damage in the clubs.” He also talks about the importance of posting ideas on SoundCloud, citing that the platform pushes new uploads to new audiences in a way that’s similar to the TikTok algorithm. “Sharing ideas on SoundCloud, you will find out the honest truth whether what you’re doing is good or not”, he concludes.
Baker also uses SoundCloud DMs and actively checks his inbox for submissions. This, he says, enables him to support up-and-coming artists and find new music to play at his own gigs. In another interview, he explained that he uses them to find potential new releases for his record label: “I’m always digging through it.”
Baker’s growth has been so rapid that SoundCloud has chosen him as its Ascending artist for July. Designed to accelerate emerging names who have gained organic momentum on the platform, its previous focuses include Shaboozey, Mochakk, SAILORR, and Barry Can’t Swim. The global development programme is proven to have a huge impact too: those artists have seen their streams increase by an average of 170% during the month of their boost. It’s a sure bet that Baker’s trajectory will follow suit.
The Power of UK dance on SoundCloud
Baker’s story mirrors the broader momentum within electronic music on SoundCloud, as identified in the Chartmetric data. According to Wyatt Marshall, the Senior Director of Music Intelligence at SoundCloud, minimal and tech-house are among the largest communities on the platform. “They have strong, established roots in the UK,” he says, “but other territories are catching on.” According to the platform’s 2025 Music Intelligence Report, year-on-year plays are up more than 40% in the US and 14% in Germany.
This trend has accelerated in recent years, he adds, citing that data shows it’s been happening in markets that aren’t as traditionally dance-heavy, too. “That’s roughly 15% growth in electronic listening the past year globally, and we’re on track for similar growth this year,” Wyatt explains.
Similarly, uploads of tracks tagged #garage and #UKG up by 100% over the last two years, while tracks tagged #bassline are up 37%. This is impacting the mainstream, too — in May, Denon Reed and Cru2’s bassline track “I Need To Know” landed on the UK singles charts at number 72, and Reed posted that it was the first time a bassline track had appeared on the chart in 15 years.
“Watching electronic scenes evolve has been fascinating,” Wyatt says, recalling that “in the wake of the Covid lockdowns, we saw hard and fast electronic music get even faster — across hard and industrial techno scenes, the average BPM of a track increased by roughly 10%, from around 130BPM to nearly 145 BPM.”
Scene Building Without Borders
But how has SoundCloud – which was recently branded music streaming’s dark horse – remained so popular among the next generation of musicians? “The platform’s unique features mean artists can experiment at will and quickly get their work in front of fans,” says Wyatt — “with fewer barriers to upload, all it takes is a click to get a track live and out into the world.”
Wyatt adds that SoundCloud’s social features enable scenes to take shape, with like-minded artists engaging socially with one another, forming communities. “Within these, artists push boundaries, feed off each other’s creativity, and find collaborators to work with,” he says. “These scenes and creative communities push music forward.”
Off the back of this, he shares that new sounds and subgenres take hold on SoundCloud before finding their way to mainstream success. Recent proof of this can be found in the mid-lockdown explosion of digicore and hyperpop, two crossover scenes which became popular on the platform before Spotify. “Artists from across the genre spectrum break on SoundCloud,” says Wyatt, citing Latin and country — “but there’s no denying hip-hop and rap have a special place.”
Similar to how massively influential names like Playboi Carti and Yeat popularised rage musicon SoundCloud in the early 2020s, next-generation rappers Xaviersobased, Nettspend, OsamaSon, and diorVSyou are following suit, with plays across the newer #jerk scene that many of them are part of having grown 150% in two years.
Analysing OsamaSon’s rise in particular, his winning recipe (dropping exclusive demos, reposting, joining relevant groups and responding to listener comments) chimes with Wyatt’s view on SoundCloud-only drops. “Exclusives and snippets are a great way for artists to tease upcoming works, build excitement and reward day one fans,” he says, suggesting that artists can “express their tastes in ways they can’t elsewhere.”
Looking Ahead: For new artists SoundCloud still matters
Looking at likely incoming trends, Wyatt is confident “We’re going to see scenes and subcultures continue to thrive on SoundCloud.” He believes these “cultural movements are going to influence the mainstream, which is something we’ve observed time and again.”
This year, he says “Electronic’s momentum shows no sign of abating, but we’re also seeing exciting momentum in guitar-driven genres like rock, metal, folk, and country from a new generation of artists.” With hip-hop, he thinks “We’ll continue to see the underground shape the mainstream, with breakthrough acts that started on SoundCloud bringing new sounds to the fore.”
At the same time, Wyatt feels the concept of genre is becoming looser than ever. “We are increasingly watching scenes ignore past genre boundaries — you might have a scene that is culturally connected, but stylistically the artists within it are creating everything from rock to pop to hip-hop.”
This, he says, reflects diverse inspirations and interests: “Genre isn’t always the kind of divide it has been — and I think we’ll see more artists and fans embrace eclectic sonic palettes.” Whichever direction they choose to go in, SoundCloud remains a uniquely unrestricted home for communities to grow.
