SoundCloud is introducing a feature that will let musicians sell their music directly to fans through the platform, ending its long-standing role as purely a discovery service. The change addresses a gap that has previously pushed fans wanting to own tracks towards rivals such as Bandcamp, and comes at a time when younger listeners are increasingly buying music to keep rather than just stream.

The feature will begin as a beta with 200 US-based Artist Pro subscribers before a wider rollout to more creators this autumn. Fans will be able to buy tracks from an artist's profile page, and SoundCloud says it will take no cut of sales, though artists must still cover payment processing fees and local taxes; sellers can track performance via the Artist Studio and Fan Support dashboards and choose which digital formats to offer. The launch follows turmoil at Bandcamp, which cut most of its engineering team in June after owner Songtradr had already halved its staff in 2023.