SoundCloud global head of music Emmy Lovell on fan power and artist breakthroughs on the platform | Interviews

SoundCloud recently launched its Music Intelligence Report tracking consumption patterns on the streaming platform. Here, global head of music Emmy Lovell identifies some of the key trends, as well as outlining the role of the community in helping to break artists and the innovations that are supporting emerging talent…

You joined SoundCloud two years ago, how would you describe the music strategy role?

“It’s so busy and so interesting all the time because we’re always looking to the future. Everything that we are doing, achieving, thinking about and developing is very much a team effort – and it’s a real privilege to lead that team, especially as a Brit advocating for British music. I’m incredibly proud to see some of the results that we’ve had, certainly over the last couple of years with British artists.”

How has SoundCloud evolved in that time?

“We are trying to build tools and products so that the artists can remain independent as long as they want. One of my favourite initiatives is First Fans, where we allow songs to be heard for the first time by potential new fans. After 100 plays, if it did well, we’d widen the berth to give it 1,000 potential new fans. That really feels like a progressive thing to help facilitate the next generation of musicians.”

You recently launched Fan Recognition, does that underline the power of superfans?

“Yeah, that initiative was born out of a conversation with Billie Eilish’s team. She started [on SoundCloud in 2015] with Ocean Eyes, and is so special to the platform. When Billie launched her Hit Me Hard And Soft album last year, it felt like a great way to understand whether people would get excited about being a ‘first fan’. The SoundCloud team then worked diligently afterwards, and they’ve launched this initiative off the back of it.”

What have you learned from that so far?

“The amount of people you see who are actually artists that are first fans of other artists is super interesting. It reminds me that SoundCloud isn’t just a platform where music can be shared. It’s a platform where people come together to collaborate in the most unexpected ways, or they’re really inspired by other music on the platform that you just can’t get anywhere else.”

How central is SoundCloud for new and emerging artists in particular genres?

“We place as much emphasis on the artists as we do the listeners because we need both communities to thrive in order to be successful – and it’s doing a great job of that. Particularly in the UK and Europe, the electronic community is really thriving on SoundCloud. But more and more genres are starting to look at SoundCloud as a low barrier to entry. You can simply just upload and put your music live, and then the community will either come to it and find it, because it’s an incredible piece of music and they’ve started talking about it, or this First Fans initiative kicks in and then the rest is history.”

Does the community influence music creation?

“Yes, I love seeing SoundCloud used as a tool to help finish tracks. Some people just put things up that they’re working on and see what ignites the community, and that’s where the communities start to build momentum around things. That’s why our [Music Intelligence] report is interesting because new areas of music are born out of this. We rely on the people that are using SoundCloud regularly as a communication and feedback loop to facilitate our understanding of what’s going to come next.”

Some people just put things up that they’re working on and see what ignites the community

Emmy Lovell

The report singles out the UK market and its key artists, how important is Britain to SoundCloud?

“The British music industry is important, period. There are a number of artists that we’ve had real success with. We launched Ascending with Kenya Grace back in 2023 as a pilot programme to see if the SoundCloud community would react to artists that we felt had something special. We had real success elevating Kenya into a more mainstream audience. The latest Ascending artist, Erin LeCount, just signed a deal because her demo blew up on SoundCloud. I love that we can find talent like that and help elevate them. I will help champion something when we find it, because I want British music to thrive around the world like it always has.”

According to the report, UK rap is the top genre for the UK market on SoundCloud. How has the platform become key for domestic hip-hop? 

“That’s where the US has influenced the UK, not in terms of the sound and artists, but hip-hop has been a genre that SoundCloud has been synonymous with in the US. There’s so much hip-hop consumed on the platform, it has inspired a generation of UK rappers to go on and experiment. SoundCloud has this beautiful community that celebrates the niches; they can find their home anywhere. That’s why UK rap is thriving, because some of these sub-scenes within UK rap are niche but the audience is there. So the success of independent rappers in general, especially in the US, has inspired the UK.”

You highlight UK success stories such as Chrystal and Pozer. Can SoundCloud take some of the credit for those breakthroughs?

“It can but not directly, necessarily, because the community does that job. We have levers to help amplify [an artist] but the community will blow things up really quickly. We sponsored the A&R Award at the Music Week Awards, and I’ve always said that the community is our first layer of A&R because there are so many songs on SoundCloud – in excess of 700 million – and there are so few of us in the team, comparatively to the number of songs. So the community is our A&R tool, they will find what they like and often bring it to our attention.” 

One interesting fact from the report is that SoundCloud over-indexes in terms of new music consumption. How does that help artists?

“We have nearly double the amount of [consumption] of most other services for new music defined as less than 18 months old. It’s one of SoundCloud’s key standouts – people come here because they want to hear something different or new. Now that so many people come to the platform for new music, it just helps that creator community try and accelerate new things.”

Finally, SoundCloud won a Music Week Award for its Fan-Powered Royalties model in 2022. How is that developing?

“We are always evaluating those things. Fan-Powered Royalties is always evolving to ensure that we are maximising the opportunities for the artists to earn as much money as possible.”

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