It would only be cluttered if it were made so. I'm thinking back to the days when people could meet and collaborate on MySpace and the way you can fall down rabbit holes on Wikipedia etc (but with music). Soundcloud's Easyjet aesthetic doesn't seem to make this happen when I go on it. Also their Android app is useless.
― 1 pONO 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 (dog latin), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 09:08 (ten years ago) link
You can do all that now
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 10:09 (ten years ago) link
oh right. hadn't noticed. I take it you have to pay to get extra features? Not sure if it's changed since I last did this but it feels like whenever I land on a SC page, I find I have trouble getting any more information about what I'm listening to other than the artist name and their location. Sometimes there are a few notes about the track, but I just feel like there could be more to it. Could you point me to an example of a good soundcloud page?
― 1 pONO 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 (dog latin), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 10:13 (ten years ago) link
http://soundcloud.com/norulespodcast
I wouldnt use a tag like they've done - no need for descriptions!
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 10:54 (ten years ago) link
Maybe I'm missing something here, but from the looks of it that link looks very much like the other Soundcloud pages I've visited. Generic orange and white layout, no artist information, no links to further listening, not to mention those ugly unnecessary waveforms instead of a nice-looking player option. I don't see any social network stuff (other than the 'HELL YEAH!' comments which are probably 50% spam) , no video content, no way for the artist to promote their work within the Soundcloud universe (as opposed to linking to their account from other areas like FB/Twitter that is). Or am I not looking hard enough?
― 1 pONO 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 (dog latin), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:03 (ten years ago) link
Those comments are from the community you were looking for
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:06 (ten years ago) link
hmmm...
― 1 pONO 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 (dog latin), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:06 (ten years ago) link
They also have pages
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:08 (ten years ago) link
If you like the music in those two mixes there are many followers and commenters to follow. But perhaps enjoy the music first and worry about other things a different day
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:09 (ten years ago) link
maybe the music that is handed to you on a plate with tracklisting and videos and informations and pictures isnt satisfying to you because its no good and needs all that other stuff and the good music is right there but doesnt come to you on a plate with a press release and a write up
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:15 (ten years ago) link
I wouldn't say that. Often I get sent to a Soundcloud or Bandcamp page, listen to a track, like it, and then I'm like 'now what?'.
― 1 pONO 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 (dog latin), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:17 (ten years ago) link
Even if I were looking at a CD in a shop, there'd at least be more artist information on the sleeve than an orange and white circle with "Napalm Death - Meridan, UK" written on it.
― 1 pONO 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 (dog latin), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:19 (ten years ago) link
You are like why doesnt the person that found this do some more research and send me another thing
What more do you want to know about the artist? You can google Patrick Specke if you really want
Even if I were looking at a CD in a shop, there'd at least be more artist information on the sleeve
It would have the artist name and the label in the record middle, what else?
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:29 (ten years ago) link
The facilities are there, but it's up to acts to make use of them. I'm fully used to seeing press releases appended to tracks and sets, with a bio on the left hand column, where there should also be links to the act's other social media presences: FB, Twitter, YouTube, Bandcamp, Instagram etc.
― mike t-diva, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:31 (ten years ago) link
Generic orange and white layout
Are you sat there looking at the page when its playing?
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:33 (ten years ago) link
I'm at work, so I can't play it. What do you mean?
― 1 pONO 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 (dog latin), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:36 (ten years ago) link
The facilities are there, but it's up to acts to make use of them. I'm fully used to seeing press releases appended to tracks and sets, with a bio on the left hand column, where there should also be links to the act's other social media presences: FB, Twitter, YouTube, Bandcamp, Instagram etc.― mike t-diva, Wednesday, April 9, 2014 12:31 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― mike t-diva, Wednesday, April 9, 2014 12:31 PM (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
I still think the whole thing looks rather ugly and inflexible. All the pages look exactly the same, there's little in the way of design options. The comments section is mostly just people going 'This is good'. It's good that there's a small section for an artist bio, but I just think they could do more with what they have, make the whole experience more self-contained. It just feels a bit bare-bones to me when you could have this whole universal music service where artists can share and collaborate with each other, link to other stuff they like, and where fans can spend hours discovering new artists and create their own customised areas which they can then share with their friends etc...
― 1 pONO 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 (dog latin), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:46 (ten years ago) link
It does all the above - and the "barebones approach" facilitates this! the page i linked above, of the commenters nearly all will have pages of their own with great stuff things on. And you see the same people from that first page on other pages - exactly the definition of community. Those people didnt get there by accident
And doing it this way where you have to find for yourself means you dont get bombarded by nonsense recommendations you just see what people you follow comment on or like
The best things dont need to advertize
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 11:59 (ten years ago) link
ie what makes soundcloud good is the fact that soundcloud, mostly, stays out the way
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 12:00 (ten years ago) link
Totally agree. Play a track, go to the act's main profile page (while the track keeps playing), look for their re-posts or likes (RHS of profile page), see who they're following, etc. Or play a track, click on the re-post count, see who's re-posted it (generally this will be fans), go to their profile, see what else they've re-posted etc. Forget the comments - there are plenty of other ways to jump around. And personally I'd rather have a clean, easy-to-follow standard interface than a hideous quasi-Myspace cludge - and in any case, most self-managed acts are busy enough maintaining all their separate-but-interlinked points of presence, without feeling obliged to take on more design work.
― mike t-diva, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 12:10 (ten years ago) link
I only use it as a storage system. If you want to know more (and you don't, but let's imagine you did), that's what my tumblr is for. I don't have enough songs for bandcamp yet. When I do, I'll collect the good (lol) stuff there.
― Mayor Manuel (La Lechera), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 12:16 (ten years ago) link
Sorry, but that's just not true.
Agree that MySpace was hideous in many respects. I just wish the Soundcloud site let artists customise their pages a bit beyond what is there. I've never seen the aspects Miketd is talking about. Is that paid accounts only? I've got, like, three Soundcloud accounts and I don't think I was aware you could use it in the way you mention but I'll give it a go tonight and see how that pans out.
What I'm saying is though, why have a Tumblr and a Facebook and a Twitter and a Spotify presence and whatnot when you could have everything all contained in one place specifically for music and music fans? Obv it would take a while to replace all these different media, but none of the above methods seem to be designed with the promotion and enjoyment of music in mind. As an amateur musician and promoter I always feel like I'm struggling to use things like Facebook to promote my sounds because there are restrictions on, say, who you can invite to an event. Everything seems to have to be hosted from outside and it's just an unwieldy bit of kit for the job. An all-encompassing music service with its own social network function (plus the ability to integrate easily with Tumblr, Facebook &c) would be awesome, and I still don't believe the existing options are quite there yet.
― 1 pONO 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 (dog latin), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 13:18 (ten years ago) link
i looooove the self-contained nature of soundcloud, and how it's focused on the audio. so glad that artists can't make general status updates (unless they record a message!) or spam their followers...there are enough places to do that, and i like that it's straight-forward and a little opaque.
like anvil said, it's easy to add links to other places in your profile, although i'm not sure you can do it with a free account. i've definitely made more connections and had the most fun/success on SC compared to any other network, there's just too much noise on fb/twitter/tumblr/etc.
― festival culture (Jordan), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 13:51 (ten years ago) link
jordan and anvil otm, soundcloud is really refreshing in terms of tuning out extraneous noise
― lex pretend, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 14:07 (ten years ago) link
i must be using it wrong.
― 1 pONO 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 (dog latin), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 14:17 (ten years ago) link
Advertising is not marketing. All things need to market.
― i reject your shiny expensive consumerist stereo system (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 14:20 (ten years ago) link
okay?
― 1 pONO 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 (dog latin), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 14:31 (ten years ago) link
How many people are you following? Do you trust what they like?
soundcloud does this already, no words or links needed
I still don't believe the existing options are quite there yet.
and when it gets to this utopia people will go somewhere less intrusive again
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 14:32 (ten years ago) link
just because you cant see something doesnt meant its not there
I totally agree.
― i reject your shiny expensive consumerist stereo system (Scik Mouthy), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 14:35 (ten years ago) link
You're agreeing with your own posts Sicko?
― 1 pONO 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 (dog latin), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 14:37 (ten years ago) link
Can you tell me about the success you've had marketing your own music without words or links please?
― 1 pONO 3v3Ry+h1n G!!!1 (dog latin), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 14:39 (ten years ago) link
one thing about soundcloud is that it seems there's a real community there for electronic music, but i feel bad for, say, singer-songwriter friends who have a solid following irl but nothing on sc.
― festival culture (Jordan), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 14:47 (ten years ago) link
Anything I put on soundcloud get played or not played by whoever follows
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 14:49 (ten years ago) link
This Patrick Specke mix is real good by the way, preferred the other mix on there but definitely going to be buying some of the records on there
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 14:50 (ten years ago) link
I never tag
How? The new (well, not so new now) layout demands it. I def prefer not to tag.
― andrew m., Wednesday, 9 April 2014 21:18 (ten years ago) link
Havent uploaded since last year - you cant just tag with some dots?
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 21:58 (ten years ago) link
Why is tagging bad? I tag on tumblr so I can find stuff again -- is it different on soundcloud?
― Mayor Manuel (La Lechera), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 22:25 (ten years ago) link
Just a personal preference - nothing wrong with it
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 22:27 (ten years ago) link
Why do you prefer not to tag? Bc of spamming?
― Mayor Manuel (La Lechera), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 22:30 (ten years ago) link
tangentially because of spamming...but there is nothing I want to tag it with, there are no tags I want to search for. It seems a quick route to finding bad music
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 22:33 (ten years ago) link
If tomorrow there was a great new tag and all was great under this tag then the day after soundcloud would have 1000x more things with that tag but if you listened to those things you would decide it was time for a day of silence instead
― anvil, Wednesday, 9 April 2014 22:36 (ten years ago) link
That makes sense. I just use it as a place to upload audio files, but it's not really doing anything for me so I guess I'm just cultivating a group of spam friends who I block immediately after they reach out to me.
― Mayor Manuel (La Lechera), Wednesday, 9 April 2014 22:48 (ten years ago) link
soundcloud is actually a garbage site, right? why do ppl like it so much?
― How Butch, I mean (Jimmy The Mod Awaits The Return Of His Beloved), Tuesday, 28 April 2015 22:15 (eight years ago) link
is there a better place to post tracks? like i said above, that's the only thing it has been useful for ime. i have made 0 friends via my postings but i didn't really expect to.
― Florianne Fracke (La Lechera), Tuesday, 28 April 2015 22:30 (eight years ago) link
post and host, i mean
I use soundcloud to post samples and recordings for projects that aren't super active. it is useful in that you can post long tracks, which is good for the more "avant-classical" stuff I do. But it's function for me is mostly booking and promo. I use bandcamp for the projects that are more "band-like" in terms of having songs and releasing "product"
― Mistah FAAB (sarahell), Tuesday, 28 April 2015 22:38 (eight years ago) link
it's been the most important thing for me as far as connecting with people (except for Twitter i guess), and gathering/presenting a body of work.
also private tracks are pretty great for passing demos back & forth and promos. and i like all the podcasts and radio shows being archived there. i like Soundcloud, ok?
― lil urbane (Jordan), Tuesday, 28 April 2015 23:08 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, in the musical sphere, Soundcloud is probably the closest thing to the dream of what the Internet was supposed to be. What's the issue with it? Not enough ads?
― EveningStar (Sund4r), Tuesday, 28 April 2015 23:42 (eight years ago) link
I mainly use soundcloud to follow people I follow in other areas of the internets to see what songs they're liking or sharing. Also, it's great for downloading mp3s (128kbps, sadly) of songs you either can't get elsewhere or don't want to buy—somewhat nefariously.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 28 April 2015 23:49 (eight years ago) link
Yeah, same. :(
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Thursday, 13 July 2017 17:18 (six years ago) link
i continue to see things expire before i figure out what they are or if i have use for them
― Supercreditor (Dr Morbius), Thursday, 13 July 2017 18:07 (six years ago) link
I am kind of glad this means I won't have to make an account once I get my one-man-band back together
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 13 July 2017 23:48 (six years ago) link
Also, completely on the same page as Morbius here!
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 13 July 2017 23:49 (six years ago) link
I mean I knew I should be taking advantage of it, but then I would go look at all the little iconified comments on time stamps along the bottom and just NO NOT
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 13 July 2017 23:50 (six years ago) link
Frequently maddened by inability to download podcast episodes. No, i do not want to listen to this on my desktop.
― Mince Pramthwart (James Morrison), Friday, 14 July 2017 00:26 (six years ago) link
pour one out
― brimstead, Friday, 14 July 2017 00:41 (six years ago) link
Chance to the rescue:https://blavity.com/soundcloud-saved-chance-the-rapper
― groovypanda, Friday, 14 July 2017 20:22 (six years ago) link
!!
― brimstead, Friday, 14 July 2017 22:47 (six years ago) link
Even more impressive than a money phone!
― albvivertine, Saturday, 15 July 2017 06:23 (six years ago) link
Still seems pretty nebulous: http://variety.com/2017/digital/news/chance-the-rapper-says-soundcloud-is-here-to-stay-in-cryptic-tweet-1202496118/
Chance’s manager had not responded to Variety’s requests for comment at press time, and a rep for SoundCloud told Variety that the rapper is essentially spreading good vibes about the company during a challenging time and that if he is making a more material commitment to the service, she is unaware of it.
Soundcloud still says they're here to stay, though.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Saturday, 15 July 2017 13:08 (six years ago) link
Companies that are run badly by incompetent/inexperienced people are not, usually
In the space of a week I have gone from knowing nothing about Alex Ljung to learning that he is very bad at business and terrible with money
― El Tomboto, Saturday, 15 July 2017 13:17 (six years ago) link
Any company that hires about a zillion people and pays for them all to move to Berlin despite not having a business plan has got its work cut out
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 15 July 2017 13:22 (six years ago) link
I love Soundcloud but, yeah, no, I never saw how it could be financially viable. Would make a great public utility.
― No purposes. Sounds. (Sund4r), Saturday, 15 July 2017 15:12 (six years ago) link
https://www.axios.com/soundcloud-asks-investors-to-support-rescue-deal-2471398461.html
Axios has obtained a circular sent to existing shareholders on Tuesday, which requires them to accept or reject a reorganization proposal by the end of Friday. If accepted, then the new investment -- $169.5 million at a $150 million pre-money enterprise valuation -- also closes tomorrow. If rejected, then CEO Alexander Ljung suggests the company would not be able "to continue as a going concern."
― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 10 August 2017 22:09 (six years ago) link
I'm assuming stay of execution at best.
http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2017/08/soundcloud-saved-emergency-investment/
― Ned Raggett, Friday, 11 August 2017 16:13 (six years ago) link
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/01/magazine/if-soundcloud-disappears-what-happens-to-its-music-culture.html
― change display name (Jordan), Friday, 11 August 2017 16:25 (six years ago) link
What was the streaming-download site that Facebook promoted in its early years? Garageband?
A lot of music of highly variable quality, freely available, then it disappears from the internet. It's like Manhandled Birds never existed :-(
― sbahnhof, Sunday, 13 August 2017 10:36 (six years ago) link
Do you guys think the bleak and anhedonic sound of so called soundcloud rap is the “future” of rap in the coming years? n.b. I’m not sayint it would be good or bad either way; i love a lot of music that fits this bill, like xo tour lif3, a bunch of lil peep songs, even that juice wrld track with the sting sample which is such an earworm, but something about the scene bums me out.
― 🦅 (Trϵϵship), Sunday, 2 September 2018 05:02 (five years ago) link
Maybe it’s not even a “scene” as such but there a notable mood of hopelessness in a lot of rap being released by very young artists. It’s weirdest to me when that dark, super downbeat sound with the low-affect vocals appears in songs where the lyrics don’t seem to warrant it, like “gucci gang.” It’s not that these are sad or angsty or even nihilistic songs—which wouldn’t be new in rap—there is this drift toward numbness that seems notable. People on ilm have probably noted it
― 🦅 (Trϵϵship), Sunday, 2 September 2018 05:08 (five years ago) link
I think like most developments in music it's more likely to be a trend that will eventually become a sub-genre the mainstream can borrow from
― niels, Sunday, 2 September 2018 09:50 (five years ago) link
my songs on SC have got way more views than my BC albums.
This has kind of gone to shit recently. In the last couple of years the tracks I've uploaded to SC have got a handful of plays each at best.
― Visibly Over 25 (snoball), Sunday, 2 September 2018 10:22 (five years ago) link
Oops.
https://pitchfork.com/news/soundcloud-announces-layoffs-impacting-nearly-20-percent-of-workforce/
― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 22:04 (one year ago) link
in the three years since this thread was updated it has really gone downhill as a platform, the hyperactive copyright enforcement on samples, the awful search functionality, the autoplay of seemingly random tracks
― link.exposing.politically (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Wednesday, 3 August 2022 22:17 (one year ago) link
otm. need to move over to mixcloud soon.
― the cat needs to start paying for its own cbd (map), Wednesday, 3 August 2022 22:19 (one year ago) link
soundcloud engagement is continuously dwindling away but i'm not sure mixcloud is picking up any of the slack.
personally speaking, all the listens i have 'lost' on my label soundcloud have simply transferred to my bandcamp, though of course that is no use for mixes etc.
― stirmonster, Wednesday, 3 August 2022 22:27 (one year ago) link
Mixcloud has it’s own set of problems IMO, not least the inability of rewinding if you don’t have a subscription.
― Chewshabadoo, Thursday, 4 August 2022 08:15 (one year ago) link
mixcloud and bandcamp do two different jobs, and soundcloud tried unsuccessfully to do both, I have had uploads rejected from mixcloud for being too short, "but that's literally every recording from 1860" I said, they didn't seem to know what to say to that.
― link.exposing.politically (Camaraderie at Arms Length), Thursday, 4 August 2022 08:48 (one year ago) link