Soundcloud to ditch 'Groups'...

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

on August 22nd:

As we dug into the best ways for creators to connect with fans, we found that Groups aren't helping creators find an audience as well as reposts, curated playlists, or track recommendations.

[NerdMcBoon]

Soundcloud started as such a great website years ago, and then they suddenly decided to ruin the whole thing. It was such a perfect "no bullshit" solution to upload and share songs and stuff and now it's more like another social media platform which just happens to have some music on it.

I realize they simply shifted their target from musicians to a more "casual" audience, and I'm generally fine with that, but it's still sad to lose such a great platform.

I never really visit the website anymore, I just use it to host stuff to embed it on forums like KVR, which still works fine I guess.

Edit: By the way, Audio Damage Chris started Octave some time ago. It's basically a more professional, less bullshitty version of Soundcloud. It isn't exactly free, though.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Soundcloud started as such a great website years ago, and then they suddenly decided to ruin the whole thing. It was such a perfect "no bullshit" solution to upload and share songs and stuff and now it's more like another social media platform which just happens to have some music on it.

I realize they simply shifted their target from musicians to a more "casual" audience, and I'm generally fine with that, but it's still sad to lose such a great platform.

I never really visit the website anymore, I just use it to host stuff to embed it on forums like KVR, which still works fine I guess.

Edit: By the way, Audio Damage Chris started Octave some time ago. It's basically a more professional, less bullshitty version of Soundcloud. It isn't exactly free, though.

I know about the gradual shift to more of a social media platform, but that's one of the things that strikes me as odd about this move i.e Groups are so important within such a 'culture'

As for paying for another service? Well, I pay now, so...

[4damind]

Hmm, I don't understand this. Groups are not good for creators and so they ditch groups?
IMO groups are good to share music to people listening to a specific style and this makes sense to me.

Ok, maybe they find a better solution instead of groups?

[dakkra]

OSC may have to find a new way to setup submissions if SC is really removing groups. That'll be interesting

[chaosWyrM]

Hmm, I don't understand this. Groups are not good for creators and so they ditch groups?
IMO groups are good to share music to people listening to a specific style and this makes sense to me.

yes...it would seem that that would be the case...but its not. no one in groups actually listens to the music posted to it. its just a bunch of people all posting their tracks and not listening to anything.

the entire concept soundcloud has of being a listening destination is absurd and isnt working. soundcloud worked great as a HOSTING site...it does not work at all as a listening destination. it has never worked as a listening destination...i dont know why they insist on shoving that broken model down peoples throats.

people do not go to soundcloud to listen to music...they just dont. they wind up there because a track they want to hear or a new act they just heard of is hosted there. thats how it is now...and thats how its been since it started.

its a hosting site. groups are pointless.

[core]

Ah, that might explain why the image upload for groups isn't getting fixed... I thought groups worked quite well for doing contests

[DJ Warmonger]

Hmm, I don't understand this. Groups are not good for creators and so they ditch groups?
IMO groups are good to share music to people listening to a specific style and this makes sense to me.

yes...it would seem that that would be the case...but its not. no one in groups actually listens to the music posted to it. its just a bunch of people all posting their tracks and not listening to anything.

the entire concept soundcloud has of being a listening destination is absurd and isnt working. soundcloud worked great as a HOSTING site...it does not work at all as a listening destination. it has never worked as a listening destination...i dont know why they insist on shoving that broken model down peoples throats.

people do not go to soundcloud to listen to music...they just dont. they wind up there because a track they want to hear or a new act they just heard of is hosted there. thats how it is now...and thats how its been since it started.

its a hosting site. groups are pointless.

Absolutely.

There's general issue: there are too many producers and not enough listeners. Everyone wants to be listen but no one wants to listen a random crap. No backend gymastics can change that.

[NerdMcBoon]

Yeah, you guys are kinda right.

However, there are a few groups I'm listening to quite regulary, like the muff wiggler group for example.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Yeah, you guys are kinda right.

However, there are a few groups I'm listening to quite regulary, like the muff wiggler group for example.

I also listen to people in my groups (When I have time to listen to anything on there) I have also received followers from posting on these groups

Furthermore, and more importantly (to me), one of the groups I am in is important to my life outside of music. That we also have music-making in common is even better

[seismic1]

There is a petition on change.org now. You can find it here:-

https://www.change.org/p/soundcloud-tel ... r-platform

I have heard that Hearthis are currently considering implementing a Group feature.

[Googly Smythe]

...By the way, Audio Damage Chris started Octave some time ago. It's basically a more professional, less bullshitty version of Soundcloud. It isn't exactly free, though.

$20 a month/$200 a year for unlimited uploads and storage of your tracks, unlimited albums, unlimited shares, unlimited plays. No stats.

https://octave.is/about/plans

[SampleScience]

Hmm, I don't understand this. Groups are not good for creators and so they ditch groups?
IMO groups are good to share music to people listening to a specific style and this makes sense to me.

yes...it would seem that that would be the case...but its not. no one in groups actually listens to the music posted to it. its just a bunch of people all posting their tracks and not listening to anything.

How can you know this? Is it backed by data, statistics? Personally, I used to listen to groups for specific genre of music and when I was sharing my own tracks there was an increased in plays on these tracks. I think it's a terrible idea to get rid of them.

[SampleScience]

There's general issue: there are too many producers and not enough listeners. Everyone wants to be listen but no one wants to listen a random crap. No backend gymastics can change that.

Is it based on your personal experience? I just don't agree at all, I get lots of listeners who follow me or favorite a track on Soundcloud, people who don't even have music on their profiles.

[4damind]

As I wrote in another thread, Hearthis starts with groups. It's available with the "test pilot" option in the settings. Benedikt wrote me, they are planning to open "groups" later this Monday or Thursday. So it's a good option besides Soundcloud and people should give it a try.
https://hearthis.at/groups

IMO the best days of Soundcloud are over. The only thing why people stay with Soundcloud is the large user base and because of the always existing followers/fans.

They ditched not only groups, they removed also features from the mobile app, so commenting or downloading (if the track was enabled for download) is not working.
There are also rumours they are moving more to a streaming portal (SC announced a partnership with Universal Music earlier this year) which means they must change something with the free accounts IMO.