Frequently asked questions
Who runs SoundCloud for Artists, and why did the name change?
SoundCloud for Artists is the current name of SoundCloud’s artist product, and their payout FAQ uses it in terms: “Head to the Monetization tab in your SoundCloud for Artists dashboard”. This was a rename rather than an acquisition. When we captured the site on 23 September 2026, the old repost.soundcloud.com address landed us on artists.soundcloud.com, and our own DNS check that day found repostnetwork.com no longer resolving. The one place the earlier company name survives is their imprint, which lists “SoundCloud, Inc.; Repost Network Inc. d/b/a SoundCloud Direct” among SoundCloud’s marketing affiliates. The service is provided by SoundCloud Global Limited & Co. KG in Berlin, and their about page dates the company to 2007. LabelGrid has been running since 2017 from Denver, Colorado.
How much does SoundCloud for Artists cost, and is LabelGrid cheaper?
Their pricing page lists Artist at “$3.25 / month, billed yearly for $39” with two tracks a month of distribution, and Artist Pro at “$8.25 / month, billed yearly for $99” with “Unlimited”, split royalties and priority support. A Basic tier costs nothing, carries a two-hour upload limit and reads “Not available” on the distribution row, so it is not free distribution. Those are the US-vantage figures; the European checkout in the same capture quotes the same two plans in euros, which is a territory quote and not a different deal. LabelGrid is not cheaper for one artist releasing their own music, and we would rather write that here than let you discover it on the price list. Every LabelGrid distribution plan and API tier is published, and the self-serve plans start with a 7-day free trial.
Do you really keep 100% of your earnings with SoundCloud for Artists?
Their distribution page states: “As of November 2025, we updated our monetization and distribution royalty share rate from 80% to 100%. You receive 100% of your earnings whether the activity is on SoundCloud or another platform.” They add that older unpaid balances may still reflect the previous share. In the same paragraph they disclose that their payout processor applies a processing fee to each payout, “as low as $0.50 USD”, which is a floor rather than a flat rate. Their page also says there are no hidden fees or surprise deductions, and that you see your estimated payout fee when you add or edit your payout method. Payments auto-deposit once earnings reach $25, and they publish a net 60 schedule, which they explain by the time the platforms take to pay them. On LabelGrid you keep 85% of standard-DSP royalties on Solo and Basic and 90% on Pro; on Custom Distribution and on every API tier you keep 95% of standard-DSP royalties earned through LabelGrid’s own deals and 100% of what you earn on your own DSP deals or through SOBO. LabelGrid charges no payout fee of its own on any plan. The bank transfer fee for each payout is deducted at cost, and the minimum payout is USD 20, with a smaller balance carried forward.
How much music can you release on each SoundCloud for Artists plan?
Their plan comparison table sets the distribution row as “Not available” under Basic Free, “2 tracks / month” under Artist at $3.25 a month and “Unlimited” under Artist Pro at $8.25 a month, and their payout page states “First, you’ll need an Artist or Artist Pro subscription.” A separate row on the same page meters uploads to SoundCloud itself at two hours, three hours and “Unlimited” across those three plans, which is a different meter and should not be read as the same one. LabelGrid sizes a plan by tracks and by labels rather than by a monthly cadence, so a back catalogue is sized into the plan rather than metered month by month; new submissions do pass through a rolling cap of around 20 releases per 7 days while an account’s first deliveries validate cleanly, and it is raised on request after that. Both companies check what goes out: their help index describes passing cover-art review on the first try, and on our side a person checks metadata and rights on every distribution plan before delivery, unless the account distributes only through its own direct deals.
Does SoundCloud for Artists include YouTube Content ID and royalty splits?
In their plan table, Content ID is marked available on Artist at $3.25 a month with its two tracks a month and on Artist Pro at $8.25 a month, and “Not available” on Basic Free. Split royalties are marked available on Artist Pro only, as is priority support, though their Help Center and the phone and email contacts on their imprint are open to everyone, so support itself is not reserved to the top plan. On LabelGrid, YouTube Content ID registration is available on every distribution plan, you keep 80% of Content ID and user-generated-content revenue earned through LabelGrid’s own deals and LabelGrid’s fee is 20%. Automated splits and per-artist statements run from Basic up and on every API tier, Solo carries neither, and LabelGrid issues the statement and records the payment once you have sent it, rather than leaving you to track who is owed what yourself.
What is SoundCloud for Artists actually selling?
Their about page describes SoundCloud as “the artist-first music streaming and sharing platform”, and their distribution page carries the line “THE ONLY STREAMING PLATFORM WITH BUILT-IN DISTRIBUTION”. Those are their words, and we are neither borrowing them nor arguing with them. The practical shape is a consumer subscription on a service they own, with distribution attached: their distribution page names Spotify, Apple Music and TikTok among the destinations, and plays on SoundCloud itself pay through Fan-Powered Royalties, where a fan’s subscription or ad revenue goes to the artists they listened to. That model covers plays on SoundCloud only. LabelGrid sells three products on one backend, self-serve distribution, Imprint the white-label portal and Engine the API, and delivers to all major DSPs, download stores and social apps; we own no consumer service, so no part of what we sell is an audience.
What else does SoundCloud for Artists sell around distribution?
Quite a lot, and all of it leans on owning the audience. Fan Support lets listeners send money from your profile or a track, with the fan choosing an amount between $1 and $1,000, payouts monthly once you reach a $10 minimum, and the artist keeping 100% after payment processing fees. The Artist Storefront attaches links for merchandise, tickets or albums to a track. On-demand vinyl has SoundCloud building the product page and handling manufacturing and shipping as orders arrive, with each 12” record priced at $39.40 on their page. Artist Pro adds third-party creator benefits from partners they name, including FL Studio Producer Edition, Splice, Groover and Fender, and free mastering credits run at one track a month on Artist and three on Artist Pro. LabelGrid’s catalogue is distribution, Imprint and Engine, and this page makes no claim about anything outside it.
Does SoundCloud have an API, and can it deliver to stores?
Yes, SoundCloud has an API, and it is a public one. developers.soundcloud.com publishes a guide, an API Explorer, rate-limit documentation, a key-request flow and OpenAPI material, and states that “SoundCloud uses OAuth 2.1 for authentication. PKCE is required for the authorization code exchange.” Anyone telling you otherwise has not clicked. What the guide sets out is its scope: “The SoundCloud API provides endpoints for authentication, track upload and playback, social features, and search”, with sections on uploading tracks, playing tracks, comments, follow and like, search and pagination. Whether anything beyond that guide reaches store delivery is not something we can read, so we make no claim about it. Engine is built for the other job: creating releases, delivering them to stores and pulling royalty and analytics data back, with DDEX ERN import on the API plans and on Custom Distribution. Both sets of documentation are public.
Can you run a label, a roster or a reseller portal on SoundCloud for Artists?
Their published artist ladder is Basic, Artist and Artist Pro, and their 16 distinct captured pages, read 23 September 2026, do not mention a white-label or reseller portal, a sub-account or label portal, DDEX ERN ingest, an enterprise plan or a service level. SoundCloud is a very large company, so an unpublished offer may exist; we can only report what their pages carry. Their help index does point to an article on moving an existing catalogue across by matching metadata to preserve streams, saves and playlist placements, but we did not capture the article itself (the help-centre distribution section we requested returned a 404), so its terms and limits are unknown to us. On LabelGrid, a single account carries 1 label on Solo, 3 on Basic, 5 on Pro and 50 on Custom Distribution, each with its own defaults and its own statement lines; Imprint puts your brand on your own domain with every end customer in their own workspace; and DDEX ERN import over SFTP or S3 runs on the API plans and on Custom Distribution.
What happens to your music and your money if you cancel?
Their Terms of Use came back in Spanish from the vantage we captured from, so the wording here is our own translation of their Spanish text rather than a quotation. It says that once an account is cancelled SoundCloud will permanently delete all content in the account or connected to the account’s activity, subject to legal retention, and it recommends backing up first. On subscriptions it says that if you end the agreement before the term finishes, they cannot offer a refund for the remaining unexpired period. It also points to separate Artist Terms covering payment, renewal and cancellation, including the EU right of cancellation in the first 14 days of a subscription, which is a statutory right rather than a SoundCloud benefit. The distribution relationship is a separate document again: customers are told to sign SoundCloud’s Distribution Terms of Use inside the dashboard, which sits behind a login and which we have not read. On our side the refund position is the same: fees already paid for the term are not refunded on standard LabelGrid plans.