SoundCloud: The Music You Love

SoundCloud Review: Free Uploads and DJ Mixes, Label Hits Behind Go+

Free, Go or Go+: where the 30-second previews begin

The free tier streams tens of millions of tracks with ads. Label releases carrying a Go+ marker play as 30-second previews unless the rights holder made them free. Go removes ads and adds offline saving, but full catalog access is reserved for Go+: more than 135 million complete tracks plus High Quality 256 kbps AAC streaming, which stays off until you enable it. In the US App Store, Go costs $5.99 and Go+ $14.99 a month. The help center says Apple billing runs about 30% above buying on the website, where verified students pay half for Go+ and Artist Pro members get 50% off it. Go+ went up in 2026; prices are US and can change.

Offline listening on Go: what a sign-out deletes

Paid plans save Likes, playlists or the whole Library, with a Download automatically switch and an Only download via Wi-Fi option. The files live inside the app, not in a music folder: uninstalling or signing out wipes them, a single track stays downloaded until you unlike it or drop it from the playlist, and rights holders can block offline play. Go+ downloads follow your streaming-quality setting, and Go+ members can push playlists to a Wear OS 3 watch. Reliability is the weak spot: of the 110 one- and two-star English Play reviews from 2026 we read, 16 describe liked or downloaded tracks marked unplayable, most posted in August and September by paying subscribers.

Uploading your own music: 2 free hours, then Artist or Artist Pro

The free Basic plan caps your total uploaded audio at 2 hours; a single file can reach 4 GB and 24 hours, in WAV, FLAC, AIFF, ALAC, MP3 and more. Artist lifts the cap to 3 hours and allows 2 distributed and monetized tracks plus one mastering credit a month. Artist Pro removes the cap, distributes to 60+ partners and adds Split Pay. On iPhone they cost $7.49 and $18.99 a month, or $129 a year for Artist Pro. Since October 31, 2025 the distribution fee is 0%, and Fan-powered Royalties send each listener's ad or subscription money to the artists that person played. Drop back to Basic above 2 hours and the oldest tracks are hidden, not deleted.

AI training opt-in, ad tracking and what stays public

A February 2024 Terms of Use change on internal AI use drew an artist backlash in May 2025, when CEO Eliah Seton wrote that the company had never trained AI models on artist content. The current terms, last modified January 19, 2026, say uploads will not train generative models that aim to replicate or synthesize your voice, music or likeness without explicit opt-in consent, and they ban using generative AI to imitate someone without authorization. The App Store label lists location, identifiers and usage data as used to track you across other companies' apps, and Play's Data safety form says device IDs and app interactions are shared for advertising. Ad settings change which ads you get, not how many. Likes, reposts, comments and follows always stay public.