Soundrop relaunches

07 February 2017 - Press release

Drop the Single: Soundrop Returns with Digital-First Distribution for the YouTube Generation

A whole generation of artists and creators have reinvented the way music reaches fans. On video platforms, in video games, via apps, these artists’ tracks defy the old rules. Distribution is often an afterthought, and they have adopted the single as their format of choice. At the same time, other artists have moved to a singles model to keep up with the newsfeed pace and bite-sized consumption of online society.

Now there’s a distribution platform tailor-made for the new generation artists. Soundrop makes it ridiculously easy for these artists to get their work out there, with no upfront expense, solely distributing the tracks to the top five digital outlets: Apple Music, iTunes, Spotify, GooglePlay, Amazon, and Deezer. The service will expand in 2017 to include Pandora and YouTube (monetization via Content ID and Art Tracks videos), among others.

Soundrop’s deal structure is not the only feature that makes it stand out from existing distributors. Soundrop integrates cover song licensing, a real boon for many creators who specialize in new takes on recent hits or old favorites. The platform makes it easy to acknowledge collaborations, the lifeblood of this new music ecology, and to assign payment shares automatically to everyone involved in each track. If you’re a label, you can have unlimited artists, and can manage several artist profiles from a single log in. Soundrop’s fee model is as straightforward as its interface: 15% of any revenue, even for cover songs. All features that set the service apart from other distribution approaches.

“This is a light, quick, easy way to get music out there, to places like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer, and Amazon,” says Zach Domer, Soundrop’s Brand Manager.

If the Soundrop name rings a bell, that’s because the service had a previous life, as one of the most popular playlisting apps built off of Spotify. At its peak, Soundrop was generating hundreds of millions of streams on Spotify, thanks to an avid user base. When Spotify switched app strategies, so did Soundrop, moving to serve digital- and single-first artists. “Soundrop was first about connecting listeners to music on the most popular streaming platform,” Domer explains, “and now it's connecting artists to listeners directly."

“These are folks who release on YouTube first,” notes Domer. “They have a strong supporter base on Patreon. They come from EDM or game music scenes. This is the place for them.” Many of these artists once flocked to Loudr, which is merging with the new platform to better grow and serve its robust catalog.

With Soundrop’s recent pivot, artists have a new way to release a single a day, if they want to. “Creators on platforms like YouTube are used to a fast, furious, responsive pace in serving their audience. Soundrop will be the perfect partner in this enterprise,” concludes Domer.