Soundcloud could be forced to close after massive losses...

[cryophonik]

Geesh...the only one alternative I am aware of is Spotify but...

Are there alternatives?

Well, yeah. Duh.

[chk071]

Geesh...the only one alternative I am aware of is Spotify but...

Are there alternatives?

Zippyshare.

[chaosWyrM]

Geesh...the only one alternative I am aware of is Spotify but...

Are there alternatives?

spotify is no alternative to soundcloud as again...its a listening platform, not a sharing platform.

http://hearthis.at/ seems to be gaining a bit of momentum. there are others as well.

[mcnelson]

There's also Octave- bit pricier than Soundcloud.

[sig-ex]

Geesh...the only one alternative I am aware of is Spotify but...

Are there alternatives?

Youtube? Just kidding...

But depending on how hi-fi you have to be, it can be decent enough and there are already a lot of audio related content there anyway (product walkthroughs for example). That might also mean an emergence of slideshows or one frame videos in Youtube. I hope it doesn't get to this.

[chaosWyrM]

the main downside to this is...contrary to the usual...competition isnt really good for users. in this case, small artists were almost all on soundcloud, and as a result, it was easy for people to find you through other similar artists. if they liked band x...and you were in the same genre (or better yet, following/followed by) band x...then people could discover you that way. i myself got a lot of plays through labels like black drone and crl studios following me (the later even eventually releasing one of my albums), not to mention tertiary connections with tympanik and cryo chamber.

now artists will be spread out over various services (as i doubt many will sign up for all of them) making it that much more difficult to get connected/found.

[ras.s]

seems to me soundclouds biggest problem has been one of identity. they wanted to become a listening destination...but they arent one. the main use of soundcloud was for small artists to have a platform to share their work, not as a place to go to listen to music. sure...you could do that...and they even made that easy...but the main function was to make sharing easy...not listening.

I disagree. I've had an account there for a few years, I've got 15 followers (without posting anything!) and I'm following 148 acts/labels/musicians/promoters. At this time it's probably my main source for new music and I'd hate it if it goes down because where am I then going to check out this stuff? I think Soundcloud is very good exactly because it's a great place for both artists and fans/followers/interested people.


I think they should make it possible to sell music there, take a cut from it while doing that. They link to places like Bandcamp, Itunes and Google Play while they could be doing the selling themselves.

[chaosWyrM]

seems to me soundclouds biggest problem has been one of identity. they wanted to become a listening destination...but they arent one. the main use of soundcloud was for small artists to have a platform to share their work, not as a place to go to listen to music. sure...you could do that...and they even made that easy...but the main function was to make sharing easy...not listening.

I disagree. I've had an account there for a few years, I've got 15 followers and I'm following 148 acts/labels/musicians/promoters. At this time it's probably my main source for new music and I'd hate it if it goes down because where am I then going to check out this stuff? I think Soundcloud is very good exactly because it's a great place for both artists and fans/followers/interested people.


I think they should make it possible to sell music there, take a cut from it while doing that. They link to places like Bandcamp, Itunes and Google Play while they could be doing the selling themselves.

you may disagree, but soundclouds purpose was as an hosting service for artists to share music, not for listeners...listeners being able to find new music was an appreciated secondary function.

[ras.s]

Well what the heck would the purpose of sharing be if it wasn't that there is someone to share it with? Come on. Of course the listening part is just as important. There isn't one without the other.

[chaosWyrM]

for what its worth...i myself have never once gone to soundcloud to search out new music. i have only ever used it to listen to artists i came across through some other means...which is how it was designed to be used.

you put your stuff up there...then tell people they can listen and point them your sc page. it was an easy way to host your audio without having to have your own website.

soundcloud started their long journey downhill when they decided to move away from that model.

[chaosWyrM]

Well what the heck would the purpose of sharing be if it wasn't that there is someone to share it with? Come on. Of course the listening part is just as important. There isn't one without the other.

i think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between the act of sharing and the act of receiving.

joe has a bunch of music he wants people to be able to hear easily, but he doesnt want to buy, build, and maintain a website to do that. so he puts his stuff on soundcloud. now its there...he can easily tell people where to go to listen to it.

he uses it to be able to share his music with people who he thinks might be interested...not to hopefully have people stumble upon it unintentionally.

thats what it was for. soundcloud was a depository service for artists. it wasnt intended for people to go there and root around for new music.

[ras.s]

Well I guess our difference then is that the people I follow post new music for me to find out about. Either their own or someone else's, doesn't matter, it's all good music. There's plenty of promoters and labels there and seeing what they post brings more music to my attention, might be that some artist that I like but didn't know they had a Soundcloud account or some new release or re-release. I don't go to dances so much anymore so it's pretty much the only place for me to find about new music. From Youtube I look for music I already know and Bandcamp, I'm still quite fresh with it, but I mainly go there from some other site.

And my fundamental misunderstanding? Oh please. You've never ever seen anyone repost something there? You only follow people who post synth-noodlings and never post about anything but their own tidbits? You've never clicked on a interesting sounding/looking screen name there? I think I don't have a fundamental misunderstanding, I think we just use the service differently. And I still view it's main purpose as promotion -- which means listening and finding new music.



I think the listening part should enhanced, though. There's the "Who to follow" part on the right side and it has absolutely nothing to do with my musical interests. They should just put in an algorithm and suggest people who follow/are followed by the people I follow.

And the selling too. I've used the site to go to other sites to buy music -- I wouldn't mind giving them a few cents for that, especially if it means getting the music directly from the artists in high quality.

[chaosWyrM]

Well I guess our difference then is that the people I follow post new music for me to find out about. Either their own or someone else's, doesn't matter, it's all good music. There's plenty of promoters and labels there and seeing what they post brings more music to my attention, might be that some artist that I like but didn't know they had a Soundcloud account or some new release or re-release. I don't go to dances so much anymore so it's pretty much the only place for me to find about new music. From Youtube I look for music I already know and Bandcamp, I'm still quite fresh with it, but I mainly go there from some other site.

And my fundamental misunderstanding? Oh please. You've never ever seen anyone repost something there? You only follow people who post synth-noodlings and never post about anything but their own tidbits? You've never clicked on a interesting sounding/looking screen name there? I think I don't have a fundamental misunderstanding, I think we just use the service differently. And I still view it's main purpose as promotion -- which means listening and finding new music.



I think the listening part should enhanced, though. There's the "Who to follow" part on the right side and it has absolutely nothing to do with my musical interests. They should just put in an algorithm and suggest people who follow/are followed by the people I follow.

And the selling too. I've used the site to go to other sites to buy music -- I wouldn't mind giving them a few cents for that, especially if it means getting the music directly from the artists in high quality.

well...soundcloud agrees with you. its also hemorrhaging cash and might be going out of buisness. soooo.....

[masterhiggins]

I know it's probably unrelated but their iOS app sucks seriously bad. They removed the ability to comment and view track info. It used to be good but no longer is. I know that's resulted in me no longer using it, anyway.

[cron]

Geesh...the only one alternative I am aware of is Spotify but...

Are there alternatives?

Youtube? Just kidding...

But depending on how hi-fi you have to be, it can be decent enough and there are already a lot of audio related content there anyway (product walkthroughs for example). That might also mean an emergence of slideshows or one frame videos in Youtube. I hope it doesn't get to this.

Youtube's audio quality kicks the arse off Soundcloud's. Maximum possible quality took a fairly significant hit recently when they standardised audio quality across all video sizes (instead of offering much higher quality at 720p and above), and it still kicks the arse off Soundcloud's audio quality.

It's pretty much the de-facto listening platform now. Look at your social media accounts. I bet 90% of the music posts on your feed point to Youtube.

As a content creator the stats are unmatched too. All for free.

I don't see how Soundcloud will ever compete tbh.