If you're a die-hard music fan, you probably keep a curated library of playlists packed with your favorite artists and albums on Spotify, Apple Music, or whatever your favorite music streaming app is. But how do you discover the best indie artists today? Some music-streaming platforms are better than others at celebrating the ‘unsung gem’ acts, but one of the most reliable forums for new, off-the-grid tunes is SoundCloud.
Founded in 2007, SoundCloud has always prioritized music that’s a bit under the radar. With over 320 million tracks in its library, the platform will even let you download a majority of its songs and albums.
Offline listening for the entire SoundCloud library is only accessible on mobile with a SoundCloud Go subscription or higher, but we’ll go over a couple of other ways to download tunes for free.
The official way to download songs from SoundCloud on desktop
SoundCloud offers its artists the option to make their tracks downloadable to those with a SoundCloud account, free or otherwise. The feature isn’t without its limitations, and finding artists and songs that are available for download officially are few and far between, so be forewarned.
On mobile, you can't actually download songs and have the actual file, but with a SoundCloud Go subscription, similarly to services like Spotify and Netflix, you can "download" songs, playlists, albums "for offline listening." We get into this more below.
Since we're talking about actual downloading, here's how to download songs made downloadable by the artists through your browser on desktop, for which you do not need a SoundCloud Go subscription.
Step 1: To download an artist-sanctioned song from SoundCloud on desktop, if you're using a browser, first make sure you're logged into your SoundCloud account.
Step 2: Remember, you can only download songs from artists that have made them available for download, and they can be hard to come by. When you do, it will be clearly labeled that it can be downloaded, or that it's copyright free, for example. Now, under the "...More" dropdown menu, if it's downloadable there will be a Download file option. Click this and choose the location for your download. Be wary of tracks that instead have something like "Free Download" next to the "... More" button as this will take you out of the SoundCloud site and to an external site.
Step 3: After clicking the Download file option, the file will be downloaded in the format that the artist made it available in, such as WAV, MP3, or AAC. You'll need a player that supports the file type.
How to download music for offline listening on mobile
Downloading SoundCloud music for offline listening on mobile is a little different. You need to be subscribed to SoundCloud Go or higher to access the full library. Once you are, you can save your liked tracks, playlists, and even your entire library in your smartphone or mobile device for offline listening, if you like.
Step 1: As mentioned above, to download for offline listening, you can't just tap any song and add it. You must either like it or add it to a playlist first. Or, you can download entire playlists that have already been created for you, like the "Your Mix" playlists.
To like a song, just tap the three dots next to it or tap the heart icon in the playbar at the bottom.
Step 2: To download your liked tracks for offline listening, navigate to your Library, then Liked Tracks. Under where it says Your Likes, there's a little down-arrow icon. Tapping this will trigger the download of all of of the songs in Your likes and will automatically download any new tracks you add there.
Step 3: If you want to have more control over exactly what you want downloaded for offline listening, it's better to create playlists. From your Library, go to Playlists and tap Create playlist (you can also do this from the menu of any track).
Step 4: Give your playlist a name and start adding songs to it. Once you have done this, you'll see a down arrow download icon underneath it. Tapping this will download the entire playlist and any new tracks you add to it.
The unofficial way to download music from SoundCloud
If you want to download more tracks on desktop, you'll have to find alternate ways. There are ways to do this, and one method involves running the URL through an online extractor. The extractor tool lets you retrieve the audio file from SoundCloud's server.
Before we dive into the specifics, keep in mind that piracy is illegal, and you should only use this guide for freely offered music. We do not intend for this tool to aid illicit acts of any kind. We are only sharing this process in the interest of helping honest and law-abiding citizens to download their favorite free-to-listen music for offline use.
With that out of the way, here’s what you need to do:
Step 1: Find a track you want to download from SoundCloud. Copy the URL from the address bar at the top of your browser.
Step 2: Head over to the KlickAud website.
Step 3: Paste the URL and hit the Download button.
Lastly, be sure to save the file either on your computer or on an external device.
