When it comes to commercial music streaming service platforms, Spotify and Tidal are the most preferred choices for established singers, however, that being said, if you are an upcoming artist looking to make a name for themselves in the music industry, SoundCloud provides a great indie alternative platform to launch your music into the public domain.
SoundCloud solves one of the biggest problems for any upcoming indie artist as it allows users to directly upload new music on the streaming service thus eliminating the need of a middleman (Record Labels).
SoundCloud is also a great platform for indie music enthusiasts to find their favorite artists and discover new, offbeat music that normally is overlooked by commercial music labels.
However, lately, SoundCloud has had its fair share of troubles so if you are an independent musician looking for a platform to host an audiophile or upload their music, or just looking for a great new platform to discover new beats then you have landed at the right place, check out this list of best SoundCloud alternatives where you can listen to music and enjoy unlimited music streaming
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The best Soundcloud alternatives in 2023
#1 BandCamp
If you are looking for the best SoundCloud alternatives, Bandcamp is the first name you will find. Bandcamp has been around for a long time for more than 15 years now. If an indie artist is not able to access any of the SoundCloud websites or apps then BandCamp is the alternative they usually migrate too.
If an Artist signs up with Bandcamp they are provided with their own customizable microsite where they can upload and share their music.
You can also free music streaming and make your own DJ mixes on Bandcamp, or buy those tracks or entire albums published by your favorite artists at a price which is convenient for you. As an artist, you can also gain many fans as there is an option where you can provide your fans with free tracks in exchange for joining your mailing lists or receive donations.
On Bandcamp, an artist is charged a 15% commission until your overall sales reach $5000, which drops to 10% once you have crossed $5000, unlike SoundCloud where musicians have to pay a fixed yearly amount. Bandcamp is also amongst the few apps like Soundcloud where you can discover new music as a user and directly support new and upcoming music artists by buying their albums.
Any Artist who has their page on the Bandcamp website can feature their social media links, personal information, list of their available music, dj mixes, and merchandising links.
Up until 2013, BandCamp was just a music site like SoundCloud and since then it is also available as a mobile app for Android and iOS.
Visit Website (Free Sign up, $15% commission on sales till $5,000, and 10% post $5000)
#2 AudioMack
Initially, AudioMack began gaining popularity as a top hip-hop platform however now it has transformed into one of the first choices for DJs and producers in recent times.
When you compare AudioMack with other music upload sites like SoundCloud you won’t find many differences as they all have similar designs and features where an artist can share, repost, like/favorite, and add any track to the playlist.
If you are looking for a free SoundCloud like alternative where you can avoid paying $180 for unlimited storage yearly then you should certainly check out Audiomack.
Just like its compatriots, Audiomack has also integrated its services with influential music blog aggregator Hype Machine thus making it one of the best alternatives to Soundcloud.
Currently, AudioMack has more than 9 million monthly users across its website and iOS and Android apps thus showing that it is right amongst the best competitors to SoundCloud.
Visit Website (Free Account, Sales based Commission)
#3 Logamp
Logamp is the only platform on this list that offers more than just online music publishing. On Logamp, you can also publish literature and art that is displayed to a global audience, and to make it even better you can get all of this absolutely free of cost.
Another reason why I have placed Logamp amongst the best alternatives to SoundCloud is that you can enjoy unlimited hosting, plus as a user, you can openly interact with their favorite music artists, get access to exclusive content and so much more.
Visit Website (Free, Unlimited hosting)
Apps: (Na)
#4 YungCloud
As an artist, if you’re looking to reach your fans directly by cutting out the assortment of middlemen, YungCloud is a great alternative to Soundcloud.
While launching the platform, Yungcloud founders used these words to describe their vision, “It is meant to connect up-and-coming artists and provide them with a platform to get their music heard by larger audiences”.
YungCloud is relatively new in the music industry as it was launched in 2015, but what makes it an ideal SoundCloud alternative is its vibrant look and feel. It is easy to use and is particularly popular among the younger generation of music artists.
After using YungCloud, I can say that it has tremendous potential to compete with SoundCloud, however, the music service will have to solve the issue of the high number of bootlegs that exist unabated. YungCloud will also have to increase its relatively small user-base and by the looks of it, the music platform is on the right track.
Visit Website (Free account, Commission depends on sales)
#4 ReverbNation
The founders of ReverbNation have described the music platform as “a gateway that helps artists grow by introducing them to music industry partners, building innovative tools to promote their music, and exposing them to fans.”
ReverbNation has been around for almost two decades, but unlike SoundCloud, it emphasizes more towards attracting local artists and informing local musicians and fans about what’s trending in their neighborhood. It is actually a very brilliant strategy to drive more traffic towards its music platform and that is what makes ReverbNation a very good SoundCloud alternative as every musician first looks to grow locally before making it to the biggest stage of them all.
Similar to SoundCloud you can also discover music based on your preferences on ReverbNation. You can also find out about the shows and events happening around you, so there is always a possibility you might attend a local concert by the next big child artist who is ready to take the world by storm.
Visit Website (Free Signup, Premium plans starting at $9.95/month)
Apps: Android (for artists) (for fans), iOS (for artists) (for fans).
#5 HearThis
When a platform itself officially claims to be the best SoundCloud alternative on the internet then you cannot help but check it out, and after testing the platform I was actually very impressed by its features and overall look and appeal.
Through its vibrant feel and tons of features that include profile pages, like, share and comment option and feed, HearThis does indeed back its own claim as being a direct competitor of arguably the most used platform by music artists worldwide. The music platform also offers another unique feature called ‘Maps’ that provides you with updates about what’s buzzing in your locality, a feature that is not provided by most of the SoundCloud free music websites.
You can also easily migrate from SoundCloud to HearThis as the latter allows users to import their SoundCloud profile into their platform.
On HearThis, just like SoundCloud artists can sell music directly to your fans thus eliminating the need for record labels or other middlemen. Users can also sort their feed by the length of track, genre, and as per the time, it was uploaded. The service also comes inclusive of the ‘Groups’ feature that has currently been discontinued from SoundCloud.
Visit Website (Free Sign up, Premium plans starts from €4/month)
#6 Orfium
Orfium is one of the upcoming online music publishing platforms which gives an artist the opportunity to sell distribute, promote, license and monetize their music, and also retain 100% of their copyright, meaning that an artist can also collect royalties whenever their music is played on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, etc.
On Orfium Indie-musicians can upload their music directly as the music publishing platform provides unlimited free hosting. However, once your content starts generating revenue you will have to pay a 20% commission 20%.
As a music fan, Orfium website is a very good SoundCloud alternative as it comes inclusive with features like tabs for albums, playlists, tracks, and ‘Discover’. You also get the option to search for music manually by mood, vibes, genre, sub-genre. Thus showing further indications that Orfium is all set to become the next big music platform for indie artists and their fans.
Visit Website (Free sign up, 20% commission on sales)
Apps: NA
#7 NoiseTrade
Similar to SoundCloud, NoiseTrade is a music service based out of Nashville, TN that provides independent musicians with a free platform to upload their songs and share music albums with their fans.
NoiseTrade was launched back in 2008 by popular American singer-songwriter Derek Webb and a couple of other musicians arguably as a direct competitor to SoundCloud but with an additional feature where it offers its services to authors.
Currently, NoiseTrade is one of the best platforms for Authors but do not let that mislead you, as it is also one of the best SoundCloud alternatives for listening to the latest music albums.
As seen on its official website, NoiseTrade was “designed to help artists build their audiences by distributing free music in exchange for fan data such as their postal code and email.”
#8 Jamendo
Launched back in 2008, Jamendo is an online music distribution platform that markets itself as “the world’s largest digital service for free music”.
When it was initially launched, Jamendo was focussed on releasing music under the Creative Commons licenses, however over the course of time the company has revamped itself as a similar website like SoundCloud, although it is still offering free music for personal use.
The main goal of Jamendo is to connect fans with their favorite artists from all over the world with the view to unite an entire global community of indie song lovers by “creating experiences and value around it”.
On Jamendo, fans can enjoy listening and downloading music for free, and as an artist you can monetize your content through Jamnedo’s music licensing platform called ‘Jamendo Licensing’, that sells licenses for background music and music synchronization.
As per stats provided by its website, Jamendo has more than 33 million members out of which 40,0000 artists have shared their music from across 150 countries.
Visit Website (Pricing starts at $4.99/month)
#9 Bonus: Mixcloud
Mixcloud is not like any of the above SoundCloud alternatives or the rest of the music platforms in this list, however its when I went through its website I was surprised to find out that there aren’t many music platforms that provide such unique features, while most of the websites just try to provide better services than SoundCloud, Mixcloud emphasizes more towards talk show hosts, podcasters, and DJs rather than just singers and musicians.
So if you are looking to upload one track at a time rather than entire albums you should opt for Mixcloud instead of SoundCloud.
Based on all of its innovative features Mixcloud seems to be a better platform in comparison to Soundcloud, but this is just my personal opinion let us know in the comment section below which platform would you prefer.
#10 Apple Music
If you have downloaded Soundcloud just to listen to the latest tracks and albums then a better option would be to migrate to Apple Music as this is the place where most of the latest tracks are usually released.
#11 Spotify
How do you have a SoundCloud alternative list and not mention Spotify? Most of the alternatives that are listed in this article do require a bit of an introduction by the writer’s end because there is not a popular option among the common public.
However, Spotify is a name that everyone has heard about, whether you are a hard-core music listener or just someone who casually listens to music in your leisure time.
What all you can do on SoundCloud can also be done on Spotify. Many young artists try to upload their new songs on Spotify in the hope of getting recognised because Spotify has become one of the biggest names in the world of streaming music.
Spotify also has special pages of the artists with the official badge aligned with their name, something which you see on Instagram and other social media sites.
Spotify also recognises the number of people are listening to your songs and give you all the stats for your songs.
Along with this, Spotify is available in all major platforms and countries, as well, so you can be rest assured that if your song is good, then there would be people from different parts of the world who will listen to it.
It is like a mini YouTube, where users are able to upload their songs and check out their stats. However, while on YouTube you are able to upload your songs for free, that is not something that you are able to do on Spotify.
To upload songs on Spotify you would have to do it through a different third-party application, and that does take some form of money from your end, so that is something that you have to look out for if you are a young artists.
However, Spotify works great as a music streaming application and it definitely is a SoundCloud alternative.
Conclusion
After hitting a purple patch SoundCloud has managed to bounce back and is ready to serve more and more indie musicians worldwide. With that being said, it is always good to have additional options and as a bonus, many alternatives on this list have free sign up feature unlike SoundCloud where you have to pay an expensive yearly fee.
There are many more websites like SoundCloud available on the internet although if you are searching for the best alternative for the popular streaming platform then you will be more than happy with the above options.
One Response
Hi! I am using Apple Music as an alternative to Soundcloud too and I recommend them to you. Before I used to download music with AceThinker MP3Juice Downloader but since I subscribe to Apple Music, there’s no need for me to download. The good thing about them is that the plans they offer are affordable. Thanks for the other options too.