SoundCloud has introduced a beta feature letting artists sell music directly from their profiles, rather than sending fans to third-party retailers such as Bandcamp or Beatport. The move matters because SoundCloud is taking no commission on these sales, meaning artists keep 100% of the revenue, a notably better deal than the cuts taken by rival platforms. It reflects the company's broader push to become a one-stop shop for artists to reach fans, build a following and earn money, rather than remaining purely a streaming and discovery service.

The feature launches with just 200 US-based Artist Pro creators, with wider rollout to eligible creators planned for later this autumn. Fans will be able to buy tracks in whatever format the artist provides, such as MP3 or WAV. For context, Bandcamp typically charges a 10-15% fee and Beatport pays artists roughly 50-65% of the sale price, whereas SoundCloud says over 250,000 artists have already linked more than 2.4 million tracks to external sales platforms, sending over half a million buyers elsewhere each year. This follows SoundCloud's November launch of its All-in-One subscription, which gives creators full distribution royalties.