The âfuture of musicâ isnât just a catchy theoretical topic for Eric and Daniel â if youâre in that role, maneuvering that future is part of the job description. For Native Instruments, the principle challenge seems to be managing user complexity, and making tools that anticipate a range of essentially unpredictable uses â independent of genre. (Case in point: Iâm fairly certain no one at NI would ever have imagined their Massive synth would wind up becoming a signature sound of a hitherto-unheard-of American dance music genre.)
So itâs been a while since the news that SoundCloud was in trouble, or, to be more precise, itâs been a while since the latest piece of news. As a result, lots of people have been thinking about what they might have to do in the event that SoundCloud did disappear. So I thought it might worthwhile to give you a list of the alternatives, some of which youâll know, some you might not.
Bandcamp: This is probably the best alternative of all, but it does lack things like groups and playlists etc, but even so, itâs a good solid alternative. However, not good for DJâs as it is only for original content.
Mixcrate and Mixcloud: Great for DJâs for mixes and playlists.
Audioboo: Probably a little off the wall, maybe one you wouldnât expect, but itâs an interesting one. Possibly more suited to spoken word and podcasts, but that may work for some people.
YouTube: The biggest streaming audio channel in the world, but again, not for everyone.
Yungcloud: One that Iâve only recently become aware of, but seems to be a SoundCloud pretender.
Hearthis.at: The minute you visit this site youâll be impressed by just how much it looks like SoundCloud! It appears to be in beta now, but looks very useful.
Tumblr: Maybe not quite where youâd think of as a place to put your music, but Tumblr does promote music and listening, so itâs worth a thought.
MySpace: You probably think Iâm joking now, but MySpace used to be the place to have your music. Maybe it will be again one day?
If weâre honest, thereâs nothing that completely comes close to SoundCloud. The one massive problem that iOS users will have is that so many iOS apps integrate the SoundCloud API, and none of the other services have that kind of integration available as yet. Also, itâll take time for apps to move over, and if developers do move to a new sharing platform, will it be the same one?
In my view either SoundCloud will find a way to get itself out of its current problems, or itâll get bought. Getting bought might not be good for anyone, and might actually be worse than it going under completely.
Only time will tell what actually will happen with SoundCloud. Personally I hope that they do stay in business.
Inside SoundCloud, the move to revenue beginsSoundCloud has become a popular punching bag for the music press. The formula runs something like this: choose a screaming headline predicting the companyâs doom, run some out-of-context business numbers and some negative quotes by an unnamed source, then (presumably) rake in clicks.
How bad is it? Well, bad enough that FACT chose to run two articles on the same day. (One was in linkbait listicle form, for bonus points!)
It seems there are three big factors in creating this climate. One, SoundCloud is popular â really popular. For producers and DJs, the site runs near total ubiquity in the same way YouTube does for video. Indeed, whatever highâprofile departures from the site you may have seen or impassioned calls to go to competitors, the site has continued to grow. Iâm still hard-pressed to find DJs sharing a MixCloud link, let alone something on a more obscure site. Some people love sites like Bandcamp, sure â and they post their Bandcamp releases on SoundCloud to promote them.
Skype is shit, and contacting them directly is worse.
Also, the fuck do they think theyâre playing at just cancelling my balance because Iâve not finished using it? How the fuck is that not theft?
And Iâm not entirely sure. Pro is still only 9⏠a month, so Iâm thinking this subscription model is aimed at the listener rather than the artist;
In order for me to learn some english today, please correct me in case Iâm wrong:
âI think that our foreign policy effects the situation.â <-> âI think that the situation is a direct result of our foreign policy.â
Had a look at âeffectâ in the Oxford Dictionary, but Iâm not sure I quite understood the meaning.
