While many of today's bedroom producers are looking to build a fanbase, there are quite a few websites for producers that have made it easier for music producers to do just that. While there are many different ways for artists to grow their following, the SoundCloud download gate may be one of the most popular methods among the different tools.
What Is A Download Gate?
A SoundCloud download gate is essentially where an artist can offer free downloads for their songs in exchange for either a social media follower or a share from the downloader. So instead of artists releasing their songs for free right there on SoundCloud, many artists have built their social media and SoundCloud fanbases based on their ability to give away free downloads in order for an action. Whether you want to choose to Follow AND Repost on SoundCloud or Follow on Spotify options, these fan gates are great ways to grow every musician's fanbase.
While there are quite a few different download gates available, we've decided to share the 3 most popular tools whether you are an artist, blog, collective, or a label.
3 Best Tools For Fan Gating Downloads
Hive
Hive is one of the best download gates on the market, but it currently does not have a free plan right now. With Hive, music producers can easily create contests, polls and collect email addresses. With its social data capabilities, Hive lets its users launch campaigns that give them access to rich contact profiles. Music producers can easily deploy campaigns, track results, and organize of your contacts on one easy to use platform. Currently, Hive's cheapest plans start at $79 per month.
Hypeddit
Hypeddit is one of our favorite download gates on the market today. Music producers have the ability to grow their fans on SoundCloud, YouTube, Spotify, MixCloud, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter right from its platform. One thing Hypeddit does that no other download gates offer is the ability to automatically obtain fan comments for each download on SoundCloud and YouTube. Free plans are currently available for the Hypeddit gate, but the premium option is priced well at just $19 per month.
Toneden
Toneden was one of the first download gates in the space. With its friendly social marketing platform, users can create a free account and join over one million creators and businesses that use ToneDen. While ToneDen is leaning more and more towards a Facebook advertising company, Toneden is still one of our favorite tools for music producers. While there is a free plan right now to use the Toneden download gates, the basic plan starts at $50.
Best SoundCloud Gate Comparison
| Hive | Hypeddit | Toneden | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free Plans | No | Yes | Yes |
| SoundCloud Actions | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Follow on Spotify | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Follow on YouTube | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Facebook Actions | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Follow On Instagram | Yes | Yes | No |
| Retargeting | No | No | Yes |
| Overall Rating | 8.8 | 8.5 | 8.0 |
