The New Music Business with Ari Herstand

Has SoundCloud Cracked Superfandom and AI Music? 2026-06-03 00:05:00

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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