SoundCloud has introduced a new donation button artists can add to their profile to help offset the financial repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. The initiative provides an additional way for fans to directly support acts on SoundCloud as live concerts and festivals are indefinitely postponed in many portions of the world.

To add the button to your SoundCloud artist page, click “Edit,” and then “Add support link.” Pick your platform of choice, and then hit “Save changes” to generate the button, which appears above your stats and on your track pages. SoundCloud supports a variety of services, including Kickstarter, Bandcamp, Paypal, and Patreon, and will not take a cut of any donations made through the platform.

Additionally, SoundCloud separately announced a new marketing and distribution platform called Repost by SoundCloud. The result of an acquisition SoundCloud made last year, Repost by SoundCloud includes a number of tools for independent artists to get their music into the world and plan out their marketing.

Through Repost by SoundCloud, artists can distribute music to platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, TikTok, and Instagram, set up pre-save campaigns, claim content on YouTube, and pitch tracks for playlists. It also opens up access to SoundCloud-specific features like track background art and banner click-throughs.

The service is available to those 18 years or older and is included with SoundCloud’s Pro Unlimited subscription tier. It can also be purchased for $30 a year. In both cases, you keep 100 percent of your SoundCloud royalties and 80 percent of the revenue received from other services.

While Repost by SoundCloud is a permanent feature, it’s not apparent how long the direct donation button will stick around. SoundCloud’s announcement says it will be active “as long as we’re all in this,” suggesting that it’s a temporary initiative because of the crisis.

Recently, SoundCloud partnered with Twitch in another relief effort to help fast-track musicians to affiliate status in order to unlock Twitch’s monetization tools.

https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/2/21206133/soundcloud-artists-direct-donation-button-paypal-repost-coronavirus