SoundCloud has begun testing direct music downloads on its platform, allowing selected artists to sell tracks from their profiles while retaining the sales proceeds minus fees and taxes. The move matters because it expands SoundCloud’s artist-monetisation tools and lets fans purchase music without being sent to another service.

The beta initially includes around 200 US-based Artist Pro creators with Fan Support enabled, who can set prices, offer formats such as MP3 and WAV, and monitor sales through SoundCloud’s dashboards. SoundCloud says it will broaden access before a wider eligible-creator launch later in the autumn; the feature follows other zero-commission initiatives, while competitor Bandcamp takes 15% of digital sales initially. The launch comes as download revenue continues to decline, representing 2.5% of global recorded-music income in 2025, compared with streaming’s 69.6%.