We caught up with RepostExchange – a platform created by musicians for musicians – who have recently joined the community here at Tileyard London.
For those who don’t know you already, could you introduce RepostExchange and walk us through the process to promote music and growing following and engagement?
Sure! RepostExchange is a community powered promotional platform built to work exclusively with SoundCloud. As the name suggests, it is a way for artists to trade reposts in order to reach a wider audience with their music. A repost on SoundCloud is similar to a retweet on Twitter – if I repost your track, it goes into the feed of my followers.
RepostExchange members can earn ‘credits’ by reposting tracks they like (and that their fans would enjoy), and go on to spend these credits on asking other artists to repost their tracks, either directly or through running a campaign which anyone can repost. The number of credits an artist can earn per repost is proportional to the number of genuine followers they have.
We also have products designed for bigger labels, artists and PR professionals which use our proprietary algorithms and the power of the community to get fast engagement with minimal legwork.
What inspired the creation of RepostExchange, and what problem does it solve for artists and musicians?
The idea started in 2016 as a fun side project while we were working on our previous platform (audio services marketplace audiu.net, later sold to LANDR).
SoundCloud had recently retired their ‘Groups’ feature, which was an effective way for artists to get their music in front of genre-specific communities. Using SoundCloud’s fantastic API we very quickly built a tool that sort of replicated the functionality of ‘Groups’. It was a big hit and got some industry press coverage at the time.
It got us thinking about how we could try and create an artist-centric platform that extended SoundCloud’s community aspects, while giving creators a viable means to promote their music without resorting to spamming, bots and other shady techniques.
At the time, the company consisted of just myself and my co-founder Mike, and we spent three days in my tiny flat speccing out and coding an MVP. We released it to the world and almost immediately realised we were on to something!
We’re now a team of six, and RepostExchange has over 400,000 members from almost every country on the globe.
Can you share some success stories of artists or musicians who have used RepostExchange to promote their music and increase their fan base?
Notable RepostExchange members include 24kGoldn (US Billboard Hot 100 #1 single), Danny Wolf (producer for Lil Uzi Vert, Juice WRLD, Ugly God) and Henry Himself (2022 EDM Awards winner).
Manchester-based Drum & Bass producer, Iskia, has used RepostExchange for a number of years, speaking in 2020, “It has undoubtedly helped me to grow my name further and gives me a great promotional boost whenever I release a new track”. Iskia has gone on to release tracks with RAM Records and DnB Allstars.
Dutch DJ and producer, Nathassia Devine, said in a blog interview with our team in 2021 on using RepostExchange “You can tell pretty quickly if a track is going to ignite interest with fans, so you get to learn what works and what doesn’t”. In 2022, Nathassia’s single ‘Guardian Angel’ hit the no. 3 spot in the UK Official Dance Charts.
Recently we have been working with some bigger labels including Positiva, EMI and Spinnin’. ‘Ready to Fly’ by SubFocus was promoted via Re-Ex and reached no.1 in SoundCloud’s Top 50 Electronic chart, racking up over 1.6m plays.
What inspired the company to join the Tileyard community?
A spot at Tileyard has been on our wish list for ages. We’ve attended many events and meetings here over the years and it seemed like the perfect place to be based as a music company. We felt it would provide space to grow, great opportunities to network and collaborate, and a creative environment to inspire new ideas.
We’re settling in and making some great connections already, and we look forward to getting involved in the community and making the most of the fantastic amenities, TYX and Two Tribes to name a few!
Do you have any exciting things bubbling away under the surface you can share with us?
We’re thrilled to have started working with several major labels and established artists which marks an exciting new chapter for our business. We are also exploring how the unique data we aggregate and analyse can be used by labels and A&Rs to identify the most promising talent rising through the SoundCloud ranks.
In addition, we are developing the community aspects of the platform along with some cool ideas for unique music discovery and fan engagement tools.
How can an up-and-coming artist utilise your services?
Simply head to repostexchange.com and connect your SoundCloud account. It takes 30 seconds to get started, and the platform can be used completely for free.
To get in touch regarding partnerships, B2B services, or for any further information, feel free to drop me a line at ed@repostexchange.com
