SoundCloud launches First on SoundCloud 2023

First introduced in 2018, the initiative offers opportunities for career acceleration, education and creative support to participating musicians by working directly with them to develop a tangible road map to establish meaningful connections with their fan base. Canada-based Zimbabwean hip hop artist Charmaine and Gambian-British rapper Pa Salieu and US-based Nigerian rapper Nezi Momodu are among emerging acts who have joined the programme in previous years.

As part of the new programme, SoundCloud has joined forces with Sony’s Audio Team to amplify the celebration of significant milestones throughout the programme.

Sony’s investment in each artist includes the upcoming Audio Brand campaign and the implementation of Sony’s professional audio products, consumer-focused personal audio products and creative audio technologies. FOSC artists will also gain exclusive access to beta tools and pilot programmes, opportunities to participate in Sony’s annual creator camp, as well as collaboration on asset development and content creation to visually represent FOSC.

“First on SoundCloud has always been about empowering emerging artists and fostering music discovery for our listeners,” SoundCloud global head of music Emmy Lovell said. “Partnering with Sony’s Audio Team is a great step in this mission. We’re thrilled to unveil the new class of breakout talent and embark on a collaborative road map to hit creative milestones, expand global fanbases, and make a significant impact in each artist’s unique journey.”

“Sony’s Audio Team is always looking towards the future and collaborating with SoundCloud on this artist accelerator programme aligns with our mission to support music creation and artists on the rise with our latest products and tools,” Sony head of partner marketing and strategy Jordy Freed added. “We hope to further bolster this incredible line-up of talent with our upcoming brand platform and campaign that puts creator vision first.”

The FOSC 2023 class includes US acts wolfacejoeyy, Nitepunk, Sojabrat and DJ_Dave, as well as Scottish turntablist sim0ne.

SoundCloud recently announced that it is expanding its benefits programme for Next and Next Pro artists through new partnerships with website building and hosting company Squarespace, VoIP and instant messaging social platform Discord, computer software company Adobe and hip hop networking and learning platform Rap Plug.