How Much Does Soundcloud like App Development Costs? {A Complete Study}

The transition from traditional rotary dial phones to smartphones, the relaxation in data charges, and the consumers’ desire to spend hours listening to music has brought a radical transformation in the music streaming industry.

Various new audio and music streaming applications entered the market, reached a wider audience and reaped higher benefits both in terms of popularity and revenue. A clear idea of which can be taken from the statistics shared below.

This thriving growth of music streaming industry has made many Startups, Entrepreneurs plan to build an audio streaming app. And ultimately, compete among the top leaders of the industry to enjoy the limelight and other advantages.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

1. Top Music Streaming App Players
2. About SoundCloud App
3. Music Streaming Industry Issues that SoundCloud Solves
4. Features of SoundCloud App
5. UX Takeaway of SoundCloud Mobile App
6. Tech Stack for SoundCloud-like App Development
7. Challenges Faced by Developers While Building SoundCloud Clone
8. Evaluation of SoundCloud-like App Development Cost
9. Business and Revenue Model of SoundCloud
10. Tips to Make Your SoundCloud Clone App Successful

Top Music Streaming Apps Ruling the Market

Undoubtedly, all of these music streaming applications have gained a huge momentum in the market, the twos that have redefined the industry are Spotify and SoundCloud.

While we have already covered an extensive article on Spotify and its Development Cost, let’s focus on the latter and SoundCloud like app development cost in this article.

Beginning with the basics of SoundCloud mobile app.

SoundCloud -The App that Changed the Landscape of Music Streaming Domain

Based in Berlin, SoundCloud is a music streaming and audio distribution platform that lets users listen to millions of songs and upload and promote their own track. It was started back in 2007 by Eric Wahlforss and Alexander Ljung and is available on both desktop and mobile platforms.

It functions in a very simple and hassle-free manner, about which you can learn in the video below.

SoundCloud earned the reputation of being one of the largest music streaming platforms with 1B monthly users, 177 tracks, and 10M music creators worldwide. Something that not only proved it to be users’ favorite, but also hinted that it is a profitable business idea to enter the market.

A ripple effect of which is that many music streaming industry enthused Entrepreneurs and app developers started taking interest in determining cost to develop app like SoundCloud and other technicalities, about which we will cover in detail here.

But before that, let’s uncover what music market issues have SoundCloud application solved.

Issues that SoundCloud Solves in the Music Streaming Industry

1. One-Stop Shop for All Audio Files

SoundCloud, unlike various other music streaming applications, didn’t confined its services to playing music online. It offered the option to access podcasts related to business and technology as well on the same platform.

2. Share Your Own Tracks

There are various music streaming platforms in the market that let users listen to the latest music. But, only a few that let artists upload their work and get the fame they deserve.

SoundCloud focused on this issue and came up as a platform that eases the journey of music curators to enter the market and make their presence, alongwith letting them enjoy others’ work as a user. Something that adds to the benefits of using music app like SoundCloud.

3. Community Building

SoundCloud, being a music social media platform, also introduced the social media feature of making community of like-people. Also, it offered the option of posting and reposting content, adding comments, and more – that helped both users and artists get fame and enjoy social interactivity.

SoundCloud in the News

• SoundCloud Go+ available in Austria

SoundCloud enters the territory of Austria and made it possible for users to listen to 20M+ tracks and enjoy premium plans, along with helping music creators from the location make their presence in the music industry.

What’s more, SoundCloud succeeded in making its presence in 15 countries now.

• SoundCloud added support to Dark Mode in their Android app

Considering Dark mode as one of the core Android 10 features, the SoundCloud team announced to embrace this functionality into their official application. They declared to introduce dark mode functionality into their Android app, making users enjoy music experience with minimal battery consumption and strain on eyes.

• SoundCloud launched 4th ‘First On’ Campaign

SoundCloud application launched its fourth edition of ‘First On SoundCloud’ campaign where they features a new class of music creators belonging to different genres and geographical locations.

They shared the sounds and stories of these music creators in the form of short videos, original photography and curated playlists which were further promoted on the official mobile app, newsletter, blog section, micro-sites, social media, and more.

With this attended to, it’s the best time to look into the technical aspect of how to build apps like SoundCloud. So, let’s start with determining what features your mobile application should have to withstand the market rivalry.

Features to Consider in SoundCloud Clone App Development

1. Search

As the name depicts, this feature enables users to search for any music track, artist, album, or category.

2. Create a Playlist

This feature lets users pick the best songs and curate their own playlist.

3. Record Your Track

This is one of the essential features of SoundCloud app. It gives artists an opportunity to record their tracks and upload in a private/public community. And this way, earn fame and money in the marketplace.

4. Real-Time Streaming

This feature enables users come across the songs and albums that are trending in a particular category, region, or year.

5. Play Music

Play Music feature gives users an option to play any music file.

6. Social Media Integration

Another feature to consider while developing an app like SoundCloud is Social Media Integration.

Considered as one of the core features of viral and addictive apps, Social media integration feature lets users sign up via their social accounts rather than creating a new account. Also, it offers them an opportunity to share their favorite tracks on social media platforms.

7. Commenting

Commenting is yet another feature that makes SoundCloud stand out of the crowd.

With this feature, a user can add a comment to the song they have been listening at any point of time.

8. Find and Follow Friends

This feature gives users an opportunity to find other users, follow them, and eventually make their own music community.

9. Repost on SoundCloud

This also counts under the top features of SoundCloud app that makes it different from others. It lets app users repost their content to their followers, just like we do in the case of Social media applications like Facebook.

While these features pleases users in the music streaming industry, what makes them pick SoundCloud over 8tracks, Amazon Music, and other music streaming apps is their UX strategy.

SoundCloud UX Strategy: An Analysis of Elements Shaping its Growth

1. Faster Login

Knowing that lengthy and cumbersome forms to create an account can be a barrier to user retention, the team offers Social media login feature. Also, they ask for minimal information when you create a new account.

2. Clean Interface

The SoundCloud team has embraced card-based layout for their user interface (UI) designing, alongside minimal aesthetics. This makes it easier for showcasing app elements smartly.

For example, On Music Player screen, the track length is shown in larger font and album art is blurred to enhance readability, and making it possible to tap on the waveform, which is quite larger than the standard seekbar.

They have also used soft, countered fonts and warm colors to make users feel welcomed. Besides, they have ditched the norm of placing the search tap on the top of the screen and added to the menu bar at the bottom of the app – making the best use of spacing.

3. Higher Gesture Controls

SoundCloud application has also replaced skips and back buttons with horizontal swipes, and introduced the power of gestures to deliver enhanced user experience.

These features make SoundCloud rule the minds of people from all walks of life across the globe. However, these features do not work single-handedly. Different libraries, programming languages, and frameworks fuel their functioning. So, let’s uncover the SoundCloud app tech stack before evaluating the app development cost.

Tech Stack for Building a SoundCloud-like Mobile App

For SoundCloud clone app development, Reactjs is used for Frontend UI development, and Bootstrap is picked by Frontend framework. Whereas, Laravel 5.2 is considered for Backend development and MySQL for database management.

Likewise, DigitalOcean server handles all the hosting requirements, Stripe manages payments, SMTP offers email services in real-time, and Nginx Server streams audio files.

Apart from these, other technologies, APIs, and frameworks that count under the category of SoundCloud clone app tech stack are REDIS Server and Queue Concept, Google API, BitBucket, GreenDao, JPlayer, Firebase Cloud Messaging, Facebook API, and AFNetworking.

While the knowledge of mobile apps technology stack and features would have given you the basic information of the development process, there’s more to it. When talking about how to build apps like SoundCloud, there are various challenges that development companies come across.

So, with an intent to make you more familiar with the core technical things and help you to put forth a realistic demand to your hired Android and iOS app development company, let’s check for the common music streaming app development challenges they face.

Challenges Faced During Music Streaming App Development

1. Licensing

The foremost and biggest challenge that Android app developers have to solve while creating an app like SoundCloud is licensing.

Since the application has to pay royalties to the music creators and other right holders for every single streaming song, licensing is imperative. Something which comes under two different labels:-

• Copyright on the composition of the song which is owned by the song lyricist or the publishing agency.
• Copyright to the owned by the record label.

2. Recommendations

Delivering a personalized experience to users in the form of recommendation of similar songs is yet another challenge that incorporates the development process.

If your development team does not rely upon impeccable tech stacks like the one we shared earlier in the article, it would be difficult to ensure highly personalized and accurate recommendations.

3. Speed and Convenience

SoundCloud application has replaced most of the clicks functionalities with gesture controls. This is yet another challenge that mobile app development companies have to deal with, when it comes to building an app for multiple devices and OS versions.

4. Social Media Elements

Since SoundCloud is a music social media app, i.e, the collaboration of music streaming and social media platforms, maintaining this identity is also a challenge for developers.

This is so because both the type of mobile applications come with their set of features, functionalities, technology stack, and ideology. So, picking the right elements and maintaining a harmony between both the faces of the application is also a difficult task for any Android or iOS app development company.

With this attended to, let’s wait no further and look into the core part of the article. That is, determining the cost of SoundCloud like app development.

How Much Does Soundcloud like App Development Costs?

The answer to how much does an app like SoundCloud costs is not finite.

This is because the app development cost varies with several factors, including app screens and size, features and functionalities, app platform targeted, frameworks and other tech stacks chosen and their compatibility, and more.

So, the best way to get a clear and exact SoundCloud like music app cost breakdown is to contact the top On-demand music streaming app developers and get a cost estimate.

Now, while this is all about how much you have to pay for developing an application, let’s take a look into how much you can earn through it. That is, the ways to regain the money you invested in the process to build an On-demand music streaming app like SoundCloud.

Business and Revenue Model of SoundCloud Music Streaming App

As per SoundCloud’s business and revenue model, it offers 55% of the net revenue generated by a song uploaded to its creator and right holders. Whereas, when it comes to how does it make money, it follows four different monetization strategies:

1. Freemium Model

In this app monetization model, users can use the application for free. But, only limited features and options will be available to them. To access more features and opportunities, they will have to pay a certain amount.

2. In-App Advertising Model

In-App Advertising is one of the best monetization strategies often considered by music streaming applications.

Under this category, users need not pay anything for accessing the content of the application. But, some advertisements are integrated into the application, which on being viewed or clicked by users pays to these music streaming applications.

3. Subscription Model

In Subscription monetization model, users are asked to pay a certain fee to access the premium features and functionalities of Soundcloud like app for a regular period of time.

When talking further about Subscription model, the app offers two premium services under the label – SoundCloud Pro and SoundCloud Go.

• SoundCloud Pro

This functionality provides musicians and artists with an opportunity to upload unlimited tracks of nearly six hours of audio and perform other actions like disabling comments, getting deeper analytics, and more. And this all at the subscription

• SoundCloud Go

This subscription service provides users access to more than 120M tracks from famous and new emerging artists, and ad-free experience for $4.99* per month.

4. In-App Purchase Model

This app monetization strategy lets users sell or buy virtual/physical goods within your application.

With this covered, let’s wrap up this article looking into tips and tricks that can make your SoundCloud-like mobile app ready for the future. And eventually, earn more ROI.

Tips to Make Your SoundCloud Clone App Successful

1. Offline Mode Accessibility

The music streaming apps often rely on Internet availability.  Because of which users find it tough to enjoy their favorite tracks while boarding an aircraft or traveling in an area where the signal is too poor.

In this situation, if you offer offline accessibility option, the app usability ratio will see a considerable rise. Users will spend more time on your app and eventually, bring more outcomes than what you expected from an investment in SoundCloud like music app development.

2. Event Calendar Feature

This feature will let users keep track of the upcoming concerts and fan club meetups. And this way, enjoy the best of music in both real and virtual world.

3. Better Artists-focused Options

One of the prime challenges faced by SoundCloud application is that as soon as artists become popular, they exit the platform. So, considering this challenge as a new pool of opportunities, bring better app features and functionalities that give artists a reason to remain on the platform for longer.

Also, introduce better payment solutions that makes it irresistible for artists to turn towards any other music streaming platform for earning more.

4. Pre-Save Feature

Already available in Spotify and Tidal, this feature lets users know about the newest album coming in the market. It adds the album to users’ library where it becomes available just the moment it hits the market.

Something that gives users an escape from the hassle of searching and listening to the song when it is live.

5. Lyrics Availability

Last but not least, introducing the functionality of accessing the lyrics of every audio track that’s playing on your app platform can also increase its success ratio.