Is SoundCloud very good to market my debut original songs?

[mjbphotos]

Hi Pinky!
I just released an 8 minute version of my song "Tambourine Rain" on YouTube. I have to regroup and figure out where to best post it in other areas. A fan of my music gave me good advice. I tried hard with my first recording to cover the areas of my song in as concisely a way as possible and sacrifice as little as possible of the large lot of it that I was already giving up.

As usual and with my other two original songs on YouTube I had grim numbers for Views, Likes, Subscribes, and Comments. I now have only 52 subscribers. I know my songs have an impact as they did when I played them at open mics. I know no two songs are created equal and can take it if this effort all turns out to reflect back to me "I better not quit my day job" so to speak. I took my 4 1/2 minute version off YouTube I think it was back in July 2022. After 23 hours with my 8 minute version I only have 31 views, 3 Likes, and two very nice comments plus another emailed me that my song at the time she had written "mesmerized" her for the past 1/2 hr. I think she meant it but maybe she does feel sorry for me and was being nice.

I came back here to post my revision and forgot a lot of what transpired here. I didn't know more replies had come from last September so I just now saw the video you were so kind to send on. I'm thinking I want to post my 8 minute version, and also post what has been popular at open mics, my about 4 minute original, "Johanna", both here and on Tik Tok. I thought I'd try Tik Tok even though I'm nothing to look at and 68 yrs old. Is it where you have to be silly and like I gather that it must be a 15 second clip? In the video it sounds like you can post an entire song. My interpreting things isn't all that great but is that true?

If 15 seconds is the max then I won't go the Tik Tok route unless that 15 seconds is to attract listeners to the full version of your song. I'm not a prolific songwriter. I could work hard, record another 8 YouTube videos. I have enough songs for an album. Actually I have a 50 minute version of Tambourine Rain but I'm sure there's no market for that, and I'm the only one who has heard it ha! I'm not out to make a lot of money, but would be happy if I could buy an ebike with it and a top line 4 season tent and portable solar panel and a traveler's size cpap machine for my sleep apnea and a one-wheeled trailer. I would also have the neck re-set on my classical guitar. Despite that... I would be happy if I just get more to hear my music and like it. What do you advise? Thanks for your sharing this valuable video! I don't know if the management here allows me to post the link to my YouTube re-release or not, so I won't do so. My name on YouTube is Michael Jensen, my real name, and also the name of my channel... only if you have time.
Thanks!

Yes, you can post your videos and links here. https://www.youtube.com/Michael_Jensen does not appear to be you.
You just replied to Pinkie's reply from 3 months ago, and ignored the subsequent replies in this thread.
Yes, TikTok is limited to 15 second videos. No one is streaming 8 minute songs these days. The shorter the better with today's ADHD crowd.
To buy all those things you are looking for? You'll be in a rest home before streaming income makes that much for you. Better to get a job as a 'greeter' at Walmart.

 

[Partapradip]

I know this post is a year old, but I just wanted to chime in and give my two cents. SoundCloud can be a good platform to market your music, but it can be tough to get noticed without some promotion. As for the promotion options, it depends on how much you're willing to spend and how serious you are about marketing your music. If you're just starting and don't have a big budget, I'd say try the "Repost" option for $30/year and see how it goes. But if you're looking for more tailored support and faster results, "Repost Select" might be worth looking into. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any info on the price, but they may charge based on the services you use. Also, check out this article on how to buy tiktok followers to find out more ways to promote your stuff online. I think it's super effective.

 

[markmann]

IME and what I have learned from my musician friends is that there is no easy way to get discovered by posting music on ANY site. The folks I know that had some success came with lots of work and self promotion. The work was playing live and selling merch. Self promotion was the constant posting on basically every social media site you can think of informing people about upcoming gigs and new releases. Most times (at least to my knowledge) musicians don't get much traction until after several EP or album releases so unless you are already a well known artist a couple songs will get you nowhere. I hate to be a downer but that's the reality.

In my own experience, I have one EP that I released through Distrokid in early 2022 and I also posted the EP on Bandcamp. the only promotion I did was to send a new release message to the 100 or so friends I have on Facebook. There was a flurry of interest for the first month on BC, Spotify and Amazon (mostly friends and family) and less on a handful of other sites. Since then I have done zero promotion so streams and downloads have been spotty. I get maybe 10 to 20 streams per month now from my 4-song EP which equates to almost nothing. That said I am close to releasing another EP and I suspect that it will do better than the last one since I have a small fan base now and I am in a new band so I'm getting more exposure. I hope that helps and good luck to all.