Creator campaign features artists hailing from London who began their careers on SoundCloud

Artists around the globe can continue to participate by uploading tracks to SoundCloud with the hashtag #SCFIRST

SoundCloud, the world’s largest open audio platform, announced today the launch of its “First On SoundCloud” campaign in the U.K.--the home to one of SoundCloud’s most prolific creative communities in Europe, London.*

Building on the success of the US launch in March, “First on SoundCloud” celebrates and promotes emerging talent on the platform through new music, video and photography, and empowers all creators to upload to SoundCloud and be heard.

The expanded campaign, also launching today in Germany, will spotlight artists within the dance/electronic and hip hop communities who got their start on SoundCloud. Artists Claptone, Jan Blomqvist, Jay Prince, Little Simz, Lotic and Peggy Gou will be featured throughout the SoundCloud app, social, newsletters and out of home advertising at London’s Ebor Street and Great Eastern Street Gallery in London’s Shoreditch neighbourhood. 

“We are excited to extend our “First On SoundCloud” campaign to celebrate emerging U.K. talent who began their careers on SoundCloud, including standouts Little Simz and Jay Prince," said Kerry Trainor, Chief Executive Officer, SoundCloud. "Creators are the center of our ecosystem and this campaign underscores our commitment to empowering them with the best tools, data and resources to start their careers on SoundCloud."

Alongside these featured artists, SoundCloud is giving all creators the opportunity to upload and be heard as part of “First on SoundCloud." Any creator can upload an original track to SoundCloud and tag it #SCFIRST, for a chance to be promoted across SoundCloud, including:

“First On SoundCloud” playlist

Creators uploading their latest tracks to SoundCloud with the tag #SCFIRST will be considered for inclusion in the “First On SoundCloud” playlist on SoundCloud’s homescreen, giving them global exposure to new fans, plays, likes and follows.

#SCFIRST on social

After uploading a track to SoundCloud with the tag #SCFIRST, creators can use SoundCloud’s seamless Twitter integration to immediately tweet their track with the #SCFIRST hashtag. SoundCloud will be randomly selecting creator tweets and tracks to promote to its millions of social followers.

Fast track consideration for monetization in SoundCloud Premier

Creators uploading content with the tag #SCFIRST will also be reviewed for inclusion in the SoundCloud Premier monetization program which offers creators a leading revenue share and additional promotional resources from SoundCloud.

#SCFIRST in SoundCloud newsletters and blog

SoundCloud will also randomly choose creators who upload their tracks using #SCFIRST for spotlights in SoundCloud’s newsletters and blog posts.

Meet the featured artists in the “First on SoundCloud” European campaign:

Claptone: Claptone has become one of the biggest names in house music, known for DJ sets underpinned by supple grooves and colored with real soul. Recognized as the #1 house DJ in DJ Mag’s Top 100 DJs Poll, 2017 saw him play over 260 shows, bringing his “The Masquerade” event to stages from Los Angeles to Ibiza, as well as performing at festivals including Tomorrowland, Melt Festival, Elrow at Amnesia Ibiza, and Green Valley in Brazil. Claptone released his latest album, Fantast, in June, which dives deeper into his very own musical realm, with charismatic vocalists and an enchantingly beautiful feel. Listen to Fantast here.

Jan Blomqvist: Jan Blomqvist’s heartfelt, tech-infused house tracks and melancholy pop aesthetic have turned him into one of Germany’s most easily accessible dance music exports. The track “Stil vor Talent,” released in 2011, kickstarted his career and since then, he’s performed over 567 gigs in seven years around the world--most memorably Fusion Turmbühne in 2014 and the robot heart stage at Burning Man in 2016. He released his debut album, Remote Control, in 2016 and in May 2018 Blomqvist released part one of his latest album Disconnected. Listen to his latest album here.     

Jay Prince:Jay Prince, a SoundCloud Premier artist, has quickly become one of the U.K.'s hip hop scene's fastest rising stars. The East London rapper, who released his first project "BeFor Our Time" on SoundCloud in 2015, has worked with a number of well-known collaborators including Mura Masa, Avelino and Aminé in addition to supporting Chance the Rapper on the European leg of his Magnificent Coloring World Tour. In March 2018, Prince dropped his latest EP, Cherish. Listen to Cherish here. 

Little Simz: Part of SoundCloud Premier, Little Simz is one of the most hyped artists right now. Known for her uptempo style of rapping and  incredible lyrical storytelling, she released her independent debut album in 2015, A Curious Tale of Trials + Persons. Most recently, she released Stillness in Wonderland in 2017 and was crowned Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the BBC’s Worldwide Awards. Little Simz is set to debut her latest project this summer. Listen to Little Simz here. 

Lotic: Houston-born and Berlin-based producer Lotic is known for their inquisitive intensity, and are one of the most buzzworthy names in future-facing electronic music. Lotic is a resident artist of Berlin’s infamous Janus collective and was tipped by Björk as one to watch. Their upcoming debut album, Power, explore unexpected new spaces both compositionally and, for the first time, vocally, and is grounded in their love of Texan marching bands. Listen to “Hunted,” the new single from Power, here.  

Peggy Gou: South Korean-born and Berlin-based Peggy Gou has quickly became one of the fastest growing, most talked about breakout talents in club music, known for her signature MPC led rhythm, and combination of playful curiosity and open musical experimentation. Gou released four EPs across three labels in 2016, followed by a relentless touring schedule in 2017, and this year released her latest EP, Once, in March via Ninja Tune. Listen to “It Makes You Forget (Itgehane)’, the lead single and instant summer anthem from Once, here.