How to utilize SoundCloud to publish a Podcast on iTunes

Podcasts are definitely on an upward trend. According to Edison Research, 24% of Americans have listened to a podcast in the last month. Many musicians have seen some great success from being featured on such popular Podcasts as NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts, and artist are making a living hosting their own, like hip hop mogul Joe Budden and his Podcast The Joe Budden Podcast. Creating a Podcast may seem daunting, but the process is pretty straight forward and platforms like SoundCloud make the initiation seamless. Below are the steps to take to use SoundCloud to get your Podcast to the iTunes stores.

1— Create a SoundCloud page dedicated to your Podcast

Separating your Podcast page from your music page is vital. The content that flows to iTunes references the “Bio Section” on your SoundCloud profile page and you want that information branded with your Podcast initiative. With your SoundCloud specified Podcast page, you can upload the appropriate Cover Art, Audio, and the detailed information that will feed over to iTunes to brand your Podcast appropriately. If you are set on using your artist page on SoundCloud to submit your Podcast, find a way to brand your page to cater to both your music fans and potential Podcast consumers.

2 — Record and upload the audio for your Podcast

This is where your creative side is displayed. Listen to popular music podcasts such as Song Exploder and NPR’s All Songs Considered to get substance of how successful Podcasts operate. Find ways to implement your music, broadcast your brand, and execute collaboration with other professionals in your arena to interview or feature for audience integration. Keep in mind that a high percentage of Podcast consumers usually listen to the categories of either business, news, or self-help. Think about how you can incorporate music as a whole and your own music into one of these three categories. Podcast consumers enjoy lengthy content, unlike social media posts (i.e. Twitter with 140 characters), so keep that in mind when completing your recording.

When uploading your audio to SoundCloud, a high quality 320 kbps MP3 will suffice. The title of the audio will be transferred to iTunes, so list it how you would like the consumer to see your episode. If you are doing a series, starting off the first episode title with “Episode #1” is helpful. So the full title may look like “Episode #1: How to make 1 million dollars from streaming”. Make sure that you choose the appropriate genre such as Music, Business, News & Politics, etc., which will be tagged in iTunes. The description section also displays in iTunes, so make sure to write the pertinent information about your Podcast Episode. Also, record with a quality mic so the audio of your Episode(s) can be enjoyed by your audience.

3 — Develop your Cover Art

The Cover Art that you upload to SoundCloud for your Podcast must be 3000 by 3000 in size, 72 dpi, and a JPG format in order to feed to iTunes correctly. Under your profile you can upload the Covert Art in the “Upload Image” section. When you are uploading your audio as discussed in step 2, you can upload the Cover Art for your specific Podcast Episode if you would like to brand each episode. You can get creative with your artwork and utilize platforms like fiverr.com if you are unable to create the art yourself and or have no graphic design connections.

4—Display Name

The display name that you use on SoundCloud, will be the same display name used on iTunes, so be sure that the display name matches what you want your Podcast to be called to keep your branding in line. If you have the Podcast name in your Cover Art, make sure that matches as well. You can update the display name by clicking the “Edit” button on your profile page in SoundCloud.

5 — The Bio

The Bio section in SoundCloud is where the “About” text will appear on iTunes. It is imperative that your Bio section is filled out to appropriately match the mission statement of your Podcast. You can edit your bio under the profile section in SoundCloud. Make it concise yet informative.

6 — Permission

Once you have steps 1–6 completed, go back into your Podcast Episode via the audio upload, click on “More”, and then “Edit”. Once you do that, click on “Permissions”, then make sure you check mark “Enable Downloads” and the “Include in RSS Feed” buttons and save the changes.

7 — RSS Feed

On your profile page in SoundCloud, click the “…” tab located on the far right to get to “Settings”. From there, go to the “Content Tab”. In the content tab, enter in the “Custom Feed Title” (the title of your overall Podcast i.e. Song Exploder) the “Custom Author Name” (i.e. Joe Budden), the “Category” (i.e. Music, Business, News & Politics), and the “Language” then click save. After you have saved this information, the RSS Feed link is good to go and is what you will use (by copy & paste) to send your Podcast to iTunes via iTunes Connect My Podcasts.

8 — iTunes Connect My Podcasts

In order to send your Podcast from SoundCloud to iTunes via your RSS Feed link, you must first have an Apple username and password. Simple go to www.apple.com to create one if you need to. From there, go to https://podcastsconnect.apple.com and sign in with your Apple ID. Once you are in, click on the “+” button on the upper left hand corner (if applicable as the updated site may not have this step) and paste your SoundCloud RSS Feed link and click “Validate”. If the “+” is not there, just copy and paste your SoundCloud RSS Feed link and click “Validate”. From here, you will see the status “Prepared for Submission”. Click “Submit” and you are good to go! It may take 24–72 hours for your Podcast to land on iTunes (in some cases even longer) so keep an eye out and spread the word once it’s up!

9 — Track your Podcast Statistics

Now that your Podcast is up on iTunes, how can you track you statistics? Sign-Up to www.podtrac.com. Under the same section in SoundCloud where you copied your RSS Feed link, you can enter in your Podtrac link once you have signed up to the site. This link can be retrieved under the “Measurement Systems” section in Podtrac. Copy said link and paste it within the “Stats-service URL prefix” box in SoundCloud to begin tracking your stats.

Happy Podcasting!