SoundCloud teams up with Fadr, Soundful and Voice-Swap for new AI integrations

The artist-centric platform, led by CEO Eliah Seton and boasting over 40 million artists and a catalogue of more than 320 million tracks, says the move, which follows previous integrations with digital audio workstations (DAWs) like GarageBand and FL Studio, reflects a continuation of a commitment to support artists with easy access to tools that support innovation and creativity:

Fadr gives anyone the power to create mashups and remixes of their own favourite songs regardless of their experience level. Soundful AI generates distinctive, studio-quality music for creators, while Voice-Swap allows musicians to transform vocal stems using generative AI to match the style of licensed artists’ voices.

“At SoundCloud, we take pride in being ground zero for musical experimentation. That’s why we’re home to what’s next in music,” SoundCloud CEO Eliah Seton said. “AI is top of mind for us in this context, and we’re excited about how this technology can be applied to serve and empower artists. These partners, which we’ve selected intentionally, reflect the very best of what the industry has to offer in this arena: tools that open up new creative avenues and make artists’ lives a little bit easier.”

The new integrations, expected to roll out soon, allow artists to easily share newly created songs to SoundCloud through a built-in ‘Upload to SoundCloud’ option that will live inside each individual tool. Songs uploaded directly to SoundCloud will also be automatically tagged to indicate which tool they were made with. Artists will be able to edit their newly uploaded tracks directly from their SoundCloud profile page.

Along with the announcement, SoundCloud says it is applying new methods to prevent AI abuse and protect its artists by blocking AI bots from crawling its site and training models on its catalogue. Since launching SoundCloud for Artists in 2022, SoundCloud has introduced a range of updates including the new Fans tool for artists, direct messages on mobile, a new Comments tool, a global licensing deal with Merlin and additional Member Benefits partners.

Earlier this month, reports emerged that SoundCloud is being prepared for sale by its owners, Raine Group and Temasek Holdings, with a potential valuation of $1 billion. The change in ownership is anticipated by the end of 2024, and Raine Group and Temasek Holdings are said to be in talks with investment banks to explore the possibility of auctioning the company.