Australian artists will have to wait, with the first phase limited to US-based creators who have Fan Support enabled.
SoundCloud is letting artists sell their music directly to fans. The new beta lets a select group of Artist Pro creators sell tracks straight from their SoundCloud profiles, with listeners able to buy and download without leaving the platform. SoundCloud keeps no commission on each sale, so the proceeds go straight to the artist, minus the usual fees and taxes.
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More than 250,000 artists have linked over 2.4 million tracks to outside music platforms, and SoundCloud already sends more than half a million users a year elsewhere to buy music. In its own research, 28% of artists surveyed either sell downloads already or want to, split evenly between the two.
During the beta, participating artists set the price on eligible tracks, open streamed music up for purchase and follow sales through Artist Studio and the Fan Support Dashboard. Fans buy and download in whatever format the artist provides, MP3 or WAV. It joins the other ways SoundCloud artists can already earn, alongside Fan-Powered Royalties, Fan Support, on-demand vinyl and ticketing.
“Artists should be able to build their audience in one place, on one platform,” said SoundCloud CEO Eliah Seton. “SoundCloud has always been where artists find their first fans and build real communities. We’re continuing to bring more of what they need to grow their careers into that same experience, while letting fans directly support the music they love.”
SoundCloud‘s own numbers put superfan spending at up to five times that of casual listeners, which is the money the feature is meant to capture.
For now the beta is small and US-only, starting with about 200 US-based Artist Pro creators who have Fan Support switched on. Access will widen to all eligible creators later in 2026, so Australian artists on Artist Pro will have to wait a little longer for the rollout.
