Soundcloud are closing their London and San Francisco offices...
https://www.engadget.com/2017/07/06/sou ... ent-staff/
Soundcloud is running out of cash
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- KVRian
- 589 posts since 16 Jun, 2003
LooneyJetman - Follow me on Spotify | Bandcamp
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 5913 posts since 17 Aug, 2004 from Berlin, Germany
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- KVRian
- 501 posts since 14 Aug, 2012
So as I see it (in my completely uninformed opinion), it seems like (1) in order to satisfy the DJ mix crowd and allow mixes to be posted, Soundcloud had to (2) get expensive licenses from labels, and figured (3) while they were at it they might as well start a (completely redundant) music streaming service (notwithstanding the pre-existence of Spotify, Apple Music, Google Music, etc, etc, etc), all of which (4) took so much money (and effort) that they completely disregarded their independent-artist music hosting / streaming base, (5) leading many of us who were using it for that purpose to end our subscriptions, leading to (6) financial distress.
Please note that I speak from a position of complete lack of information or insight so all of what I say should be taken as wholly baseless speculation and venting. All I do know is that, for me at least, Soundcloud many years ago became useless as an outlet for hosting my personal music (between questionable sound quality, feature losses, and inability to control spam messages, among other things), which is a real shame. Maybe it could not have survived catering to the indie music crowd anyway, but deciding to go for major label licenses to legalize DJ mixes being posted and then to become the umpteenth Spotify clone doesn't seem to have panned out so well either.
Basically, I blame the mix crowd for everything.
Please note that I speak from a position of complete lack of information or insight so all of what I say should be taken as wholly baseless speculation and venting. All I do know is that, for me at least, Soundcloud many years ago became useless as an outlet for hosting my personal music (between questionable sound quality, feature losses, and inability to control spam messages, among other things), which is a real shame. Maybe it could not have survived catering to the indie music crowd anyway, but deciding to go for major label licenses to legalize DJ mixes being posted and then to become the umpteenth Spotify clone doesn't seem to have panned out so well either.
Basically, I blame the mix crowd for everything.
Last edited by SirkusPi on Thu Jul 06, 2017 9:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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- KVRist
- 415 posts since 3 Jun, 2017
I mean, it's crap news for the people they're laying off, no doubt.
But why does an online service need offices all around the globe?
Looking at pictures of those offices, it was more about prestige than actually providing a service to the paying customer.
Wouldn't people from San Francisco or London upload their tracks to Soundcloud for 4€ / month if they only had a Berlin office?
With maybe some freelancers unwilling/unable to move to Berlin located somewhere else?
But why does an online service need offices all around the globe?
Looking at pictures of those offices, it was more about prestige than actually providing a service to the paying customer.
Wouldn't people from San Francisco or London upload their tracks to Soundcloud for 4€ / month if they only had a Berlin office?
With maybe some freelancers unwilling/unable to move to Berlin located somewhere else?
Last edited by Rockatansky on Thu Jul 06, 2017 9:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Confucamus.
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- KVRAF
- 2448 posts since 12 Sep, 2004
SC should fire everybody and hire a freaking UX expert. Start there. Burn it down, start from scratch. The naff audio quality is bad enough, then it's got to be maximum pain on the usability side too? Makes no sense...
You need to limit that rez, bro.
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- KVRAF
- 2448 posts since 12 Sep, 2004
Rockatansky wrote:why does an online service need offices all around the globe?
Hm. Good question. I bet each office had a Free Beer Bar and a Ping Pong Table... oops just saw the pics. Yup. Giffy tells 1000 words. Reminds me of a song... Too Cool for Cubes...
You need to limit that rez, bro.
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- KVRAF
- 2772 posts since 22 May, 2017
Rather spot-on, if I may say so!SirkusPi wrote:So as I see it (in my completely uninformed opinion), it seems like (1) in order to satisfy the DJ mix crowd and allow mixes to be posted, Soundcloud had to (2) get expensive licenses from labels, and figured (3) while they were at it they might as well start a (completely redundant) music streaming service (notwithstanding the pre-existence of Spotify, Apple Music, Google Music, etc, etc, etc), all of which (4) took so much money (and effort) that they completely disregarded their independent-artist music hosting / streaming base, (5) leading many of us who were using it for that purpose to end our subscriptions, leading to (6) financial distress.
Please note that I speak from a position of complete lack of information or insight so all of what I say should be taken as wholly baseless speculation and venting. All I do know is that, for me at least, Soundcloud many years ago became useless as an outlet for hosting my personal music (between questionable sound quality, feature losses, and inability to control spam messages, among other things), which is a real shame. Maybe it could not have survived catering to the indie music crowd anyway, but deciding to go for major label licenses to legalize DJ mixes being posted and then to become the umpteenth Spotify clone doesn't seem to have panned out so well either.
Basically, I blame the mix crowd for everything.
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- KVRAF
- 2772 posts since 22 May, 2017
Agreed.Rockatansky wrote:I mean, it's crap news for the people they're laying off, no doubt.
But why does an online service need offices all around the globe?
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- KVRAF
- 2772 posts since 22 May, 2017
Yeah, they provide a widely-used and respected free service. Their Pro plan isn't bad either. I alternate between paying the monthly fee then letting it lapse to pay other bills and whatnot that month, and pick it back up again later when I have the extra funds. I don't give a shit about Soundcloud Go, but no one is forcing me to use it.nonnaci wrote:They provide free sound hosting. Not sure what's not to like. Someone enlighten me from my ignorance!
If Soundcloud does end up disappearing from the web, I'll be sad to see them go. I'm sure a lot of people will be.
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- KVRAF
- 37411 posts since 14 Sep, 2002 from In teh net
Well on iOS they have now made it so you either have the free version or subscribe to Go - my Pro subscription is no longer recognised.Russell Grand wrote:I don't give a shit about Soundcloud Go, but no one is forcing me to use it.
tbh I still don't even understand what Go is. They haven't really marketed it well, I thought the whole point of a Pro account was ad free access to other people's tracks.
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- KVRian
- 513 posts since 22 Sep, 2015
They want you to pay them to host 128kps mp3 files. Gee, I wonder why they're running out of money?Russell Grand wrote:Yeah, they provide a widely-used and respected free service. Their Pro plan isn't bad either. I alternate between paying the monthly fee then letting it lapse to pay other bills and whatnot that month, and pick it back up again later when I have the extra funds. I don't give a shit about Soundcloud Go, but no one is forcing me to use it.nonnaci wrote:They provide free sound hosting. Not sure what's not to like. Someone enlighten me from my ignorance!
If Soundcloud does end up disappearing from the web, I'll be sad to see them go. I'm sure a lot of people will be.
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Obsolete236871 Obsolete236871 https://www.kvraudio.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=236871
- Banned
- 821 posts since 4 Aug, 2010
I really don't get the hostility against Soundcloud. I think it's still the best platform in existence for unsigned artists to present their work to the world. Yes, lately they have ventured into Spotify / Apple Music / Google Play / Tidal territory, but I guess this was necessary in order to explore other sources of income, since their former business model alone was not sufficient in a profitable sense (= didn't generate the funds necessary to run such a large scale operation and gain profit).
I think we should rather support Soundcloud and those of us who have ambitions as an artist should use their service, use the advantages of the Pro account at some point.
Spotify already had plans of buying Soundcloud, but reportedly abandonned those plans. I think some sort of synergy with one of the big streaming players would make sense, but there is of course a risk of someone buying Soundcloud and then shutting down it's whole functionality aimed at upcoming artists, so that it would end up as just another streaming platform or even be fully shut down and integrated into the existing platforms.
Soundcloud, unlike Youtube and other general entertainment platforms, has the advantage of attracting specifically people who are interested in exploring new music, including music from unknown and underhyped artists. That's what makes it so valuable.
One thing I can think of: Soundcloud could collaborate with Native Instruments or Serato etc and make their catalogue accessible in their DJ mixing software
I think we should rather support Soundcloud and those of us who have ambitions as an artist should use their service, use the advantages of the Pro account at some point.
Spotify already had plans of buying Soundcloud, but reportedly abandonned those plans. I think some sort of synergy with one of the big streaming players would make sense, but there is of course a risk of someone buying Soundcloud and then shutting down it's whole functionality aimed at upcoming artists, so that it would end up as just another streaming platform or even be fully shut down and integrated into the existing platforms.
Soundcloud, unlike Youtube and other general entertainment platforms, has the advantage of attracting specifically people who are interested in exploring new music, including music from unknown and underhyped artists. That's what makes it so valuable.
One thing I can think of: Soundcloud could collaborate with Native Instruments or Serato etc and make their catalogue accessible in their DJ mixing software