Join rapper Dot Cromwell on Sound Advice, the weekly interview series covering artists’ creative process and their SoundCloud journey. In this episode, Dot shares a wealth of knowledge and first-hand insight into leveraging SoundCloud features for releasing music, planning tours, obtaining sync licensing and more.
Welcome to Sound Advice, the series spotlighting artists’ creative process and their SoundCloud journey. We’ll get the inside knowledge straight from the source on how musicians, producers and creatives are leaning into everything SoundCloud offers to elevate their sound, get heard and catapult their careers. Sound Advice is now available in audio format on the SoundCloud Stories profile.
On this installment of Sound Advice, Philadelphia hip-hop artist Dot Cromwell, who is now based out of Atlanta, recounts his evolution from local schoolyard cyphers in his hometown to collaborative jam sessions in his Brooklyn apartment, leading to high-profile tracks with Jidenna and Wale, plus sync licensing deals for “NBA 2K,” and “Abbott Elementary.” As an independent hip-hop artist and true DIY innovator, Dot leverages SoundCloud’s features – like private tracks, direct messaging, fan analytics and Split Pay – to boost engagement, streamlining collaboration and grow his reach. We also talk about his latest release, ‘Vanity Tape II,’ and his different release strategies. Plus, Dot shares tips for how to land your music on TV and film, and how to make your music stand out from the rest.
LISTEN TO THE AUDIO EPISODE OF SOUND ADVICE FEATURING DOT CROMWELL
LISTEN TO 'VANITY TAPE II' BY DOT CROMWELL HERE
LISTEN TO DOT CROMWELL'S VOICE NOTES
Things We Talked About In This Episode of Sound Advice
How Dot Cromwell Navigated Philly’s Rap Scene and Built an Artist Community
- We begin the conversation with the story of Dot Cromwell’s early days. Growing up in Philadelphia, Dot fell in love with rap and neo-soul, and was surrounded by creative people and energies that remain part of his life now. When he moved to Brooklyn, these influences evolved to adapt to his new environment. One lesson that he explores in detail is how he switched his mindset in order to understand not just music, but the business of music.
- Dot tells us about his Brooklyn home, and how he fostered an engaged community of artists through hosting parties, writing and recording sessions, and a variety of creative hangouts. He reflects on these “icebreaker” events as critical to his artistic development — that, through cultivating meaningful friendships, he was able to collaborate on music with greater ease and impact. We hear how, through these parties, one of his breakthrough records came to be: his collaboration with Wale and Jidenna, on “Out Of Body.” As Dot tells it, the track was a huge moment for him.
Leveraging SoundCloud Artist Tools From Day One
- Throughout each phase of his career, Dot Cromwell has used SoundCloud, investing in building his community and presence on the platform. He discusses his appreciation for how its many features can benefit independent artists like him. In a detailed account of his time on SoundCloud, Dot tells us about how fan interactions through direct messaging, comments and sharing private tracks transformed how he saw his career progression, his creative process and how he engages with his audience.
- Continuing on this theme, Dot shares how these interactions gave him the confidence to look beyond his immediate peers for inspiration and collaboration, and to get over “the mental hump” of needing a track to be “perfect” before sharing it with the world.
Sync Licensing: How Dot Cromwell Broke into TV, Commercials and Gaming
- Another feature of SoundCloud that Dot credits for the development of his music career is Split Play. Split Pay is a tool that allows artists to easily list collaborators on their tracks, in order to give a percentage of the earnings. This ensures that royalties will go to the right place with ease. Dot shares how he’s used Split Pay to hire producers and elevate his music to a level where sync conversations can happen quickly and smoothly.
- Keeping with this topic, Dot goes into greater detail on how SoundCloud helped him in the early days of navigating the sync side of the music industry, and what lessons he’s learned in how he can manage sync negotiations independently.
- In recent years, Dot’s created greater exposure for his music through sync and licensing deals in TV, commercials and gaming. He sheds light on this often-lucrative but opaque side of the music industry, offering practical tips on music licensing strategies and how independent artists can best position themselves to secure sync opportunities.
Dot Cromwell’s SoundCloud Fan-Engagement Playbook & ‘Vanity Tape’ Evolution
- Another feature of SoundCloud that Dot is passionate about is using private links and direct messaging to engage his fans in his music-making process, and boost his music’s reach once it goes public on the platform. Growing up, Dot’s favorite artists felt far away from him: superstars, rather than human beings. But SoundCloud has allowed him to break down walls between artist and audience — so much so that he’s using SoundCloud analytics to guide his tour bookings. As he tells it: “They’re not my songs, they’re our songs.”
- Bringing it back to the music, Dot gets into the story behind his ‘Vanity Tape’ series. In addition to learning more about his release strategy, we also hear more how each installment evolved, what to expect next in the series and what other upcoming hip-hop releases he has planned in 2025. To hear an in-depth breakdown of ‘Vanity Tape II,’ listen to Dot Cromwell’s recent episode of Voice Notes.
LINKS AND EXTRAS
Follow Dot Cromwell’s journey on SoundCloud.
Press play on Dot Cromwell’s recent mixtapes, ‘Vanity Tape’ and ‘Vanity Tape II.’
Hear more about the making of ‘Vanity Tape II’ on Voice Notes.
Check out Dot Cromwell’s collaboration with Wale and Jidenna, “Out of Body.”
Visit the SoundCloud Store to buy exclusive merch from Dot Cromwell.
Listen to a couple of early influences from Dot Cromwell’s musical upbringing in Philadelphia, Musiq Soulchild and Beanie Sigel.
Add the Buzzing: Hip-Hop and Rap playlist to your weekly rotation.
Never miss an episode and follow the official Sound Advice playlist on SoundCloud.
GETTING THE MOST OUT OF SOUNDCLOUD
- Learn more about using DMs to connect with fellow artists and potential collaborators.
- Learn more about how to make a custom playlist on SoundCloud.
- Learn more about unlimited uploads, available with an Artist Pro subscription.
- Learn more unlocking access to unlimited distribution, available with Artist Pro.
- Learn more about getting heard with SoundCloud’s updated algorithm, available to Artist and Artist Pro subscribers.
To discover additional features a SoundCloud Artist or Artist Pro subscription offers, visit here. To catch up on past installments of Sound Advice and make sure you don’t miss out on future episodes, visit here.
CREDITS Host: Vivian Host Executive Producer: Mike Spinella Producer: KC Orcutt Audio Engineer: David “DibS” Shackney Coordinator: Trevor McGee Editorial Associate: Lauren Martin
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png)
