“In an age of ubiquity where everybody can have everything, people want the things that other people can’t have. They want the scarcity…”
That was Midia Research boss Mark Mulligan talking at our Music Ally Connect conference in January, while explaining what music fans might want from ‘supremium’ tiers on streaming services.
Early access to tickets, pre-releases and exclusive music are top of their list according to his company’s research. Now SoundCloud is rolling out a new feature focusing on the latter two of those options.
It’s called ‘Follower Exclusive Releases’ and can be used by musicians on its ‘Artist Pro’ tier – so the payment in this case is coming from the artist side rather than the fans.
“Artists can give their followers the first listen to what they’re working on, whether it’s an early demo, a work-in-progress track, or a surprise drop,” is how SoundCloud pitched the new feature, which can be used for a limited time or indefinitely.
“Fans can hear tracks the moment they drop, comment on the exact moment the hook lands, DM artists directly, and engage with music while it’s still evolving. In some cases, that feedback can even shape what the final version becomes.”
Electronic-music artist and DJ Chris Stussy is the first to test it out: his ‘What Makes You Feel’ track will be available only for his SoundCloud followers ahead of its official release as part of his new album on 3 April.
So, for SoundCloud this feature is about rewarding followers – and sometimes starting a feedback loop for the artists on work-in-progress tracks – rather than being an incentive to pay for an extra subscription.
It’s not a ‘supremium’ play, then, although there may be scope for that to evolve in the future. But ‘Follower Exclusive Releases’ IS a scarcity play, and it’s almost certainly not the last one we’ll see from a big DSP this year.
That will bring its own challenges, of course, as artists weigh up the competing claims of streaming services for their exclusives and early drops – or find a way to offer these to fans across them all at once. Or, indeed, focus on their owned-and-operated platforms for this activity instead.
