This week on the New Music Business podcast, Ari sits down with Eliah Seton, CEO of SoundCloud. Eliah breaks down how SoundCloud is evolving beyond streaming into a creator-first platform focused on fan relationships, monetization, and artist discovery.
Why “streaming is not enough” for artists, how fan-powered royalties work, the future of direct-to-fan monetization, and why creator tools are becoming more important in the AI era. Eliah also explains SoundCloud’s approach to generative AI music, ethically trained AI models, and why the platform refuses to monetize fully AI-generated songs.
Follow Eliah Seton and SoundCloud:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eliahseton/
https://soundcloud.com/
Check out Ari’s Take:
https://aristake.com
08:27 - Eliah Seton on the Future of SoundCloud
13:41 - Why “Streaming Is Not Enough” for Artists
18:15 - Fan Monetization, Merch, and Direct-to-Artist Revenue
22:03 - How SoundCloud Helps Artists Get Heard and Build Fans
27:14 - Creator Subscriptions and Fan-Powered Features
31:24 - Wallets, Tipping, and the Future of Fan Transactions
36:01 - AI Tools for Music Creation and Artist Discovery
40:48 - SoundCloud’s Approach to Ethically Trained AI
47:17 - AI Music, Royalties, and Streaming Economics
52:08 - The Future of Human Artistry in the AI Era
Edited and mixed by Ruben Zarate
Music by Brassroots District
Produced by the team at Ari’s Take
Order the THIRD EDITION of How to Make It in the New Music Business: https://book.aristake.com
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