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RIP Soundcloud? (pg. 2)
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| adam_rodriguez |
| quote: | Originally posted by Sykonee
Spotify (and plenty other streamers) gives great access to most music. Mixcloud gives great access to DJ mixes. Bandcamp gives great access to buy original content (albums, EPs) from artists.
What does Soundcloud offer that these services don't? Bunch of unfinished demos? |
As a producer,Soundcloud is still by far the best platform for giving away free tracks/remixes. Ive had about 23K downloads and counting on there and whole load of my back catalogue on there. Its my main outlet for people to get my tracks and Ive never had a problem with it apart from the copyright on mixes, but i have Hearthis for that now. (which doesnt have half the reach of SC though).
People always mention Mixcloud but you CANT download from there - people want mixes in their car,on ipods etc aswell. |
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| Trance-M |
| Mixcloud IMO also sucks for not showing the playlist at once. I think there isn't a lot I do like about it, except the option to see which track is currently being played, but way to often it doesn't show. |
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| kosmotika |
| quote: | Originally posted by Trance-M
Mixcloud IMO also sucks for not showing the playlist at once. I think there isn't a lot I do like about it, except the option to see which track is currently being played, but way to often it doesn't show. |
Another thing I don't like about mixcloud is the general slowness of the player. The few times I've listened to things on Mixcloud, if I try to jump to a specific point it just loads and loads and loads...
There's also no great way to view the waveform which can be useful if you want to jump to a specific point in the track. A download button is also a very important feature the site is lacking. |
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| Trance-M |
| quote: | Originally posted by kosmotika
Another thing I don't like about mixcloud is the general slowness of the player. The few times I've listened to things on Mixcloud, if I try to jump to a specific point it just loads and loads and loads...
There's also no great way to view the waveform which can be useful if you want to jump to a specific point in the track. A download button is also a very important feature the site is lacking. |
Actually I stopped listening many sets because of that loading. I didn't mention it because I wasn't sure if it's a general issue.
Yeah, the waveform is also one of the points.
When I really want the set for in my car I use a website to download the set, but the quality is not that high. It's better than nothing though. |
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| Swamper |
I really like Soundcloud and use it on the regular - my only gripe is that their iphone app is kind of garbage.
Advise anyone with an SC account with their own content to go over to Mixcloud and use their import feature to get everything over there - just in case. |
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| Johan (DJ Irish) |
These rumors are still a bit premature IMO since the report was for their 2014 financial statement and in 2015 they've secured further funding.
They've also secured deals with the majors as well as Merlin (world largest representative of independent labels). In many cases (if not all) for an equity stake.
Problem now is how these deals will affect revenue going forward. Seeing how SC has yet to make any profit so far some analysts believes it will be even harder going forward. It will probably all depend on the much talked about, but never seen, subscription service.
As for competing services. The only one with any longevity is Mixcloud. By not offering downloads they make it easier to secure the rights they need (which they seem to have done successfully). Other services will face the same problem SC has now but with even less probability of ever securing any funding to mitigate license costs. After reaching a critical threshold regarding amount of listeners they will all probably have to fold.
Bottom line is that going forward it will be much harder to launch any music services without the proper licenses sorted out first. The era of creating a music service, letting it grow and then sort out the necessary rights and pay the rights holders is probably over |
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| Lews |
| I don't think Soundcloud is ready for the big ride, yet. Yes, they're bleeding money, but they have a decent amount of savings and they think they can monetize their existing base, as well as raise more money, as more conservative bases (ie pension funds etc) want to invest in tech. Would I invest in them? No. Would I bet on them going out of business in the next 6-12 months? Also no. |
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| TigerClaw |
| quote: | Originally posted by SYSTEM-J
Download links.
I only really use it for listening to DJ mixes, but the UI is far better than Mixcloud. As a user I have no complaints at all with it. It's an excellent platform for hosting mixes.
There seems to be a new "Is this the end of Soundcloud?" article every six months. People have been predicting its demise for over three years. I personally hope it can keep going, and these articles don't suggest imminent closure. Spotify was pissing out lost money for year after year (and may still be losing money) without closing. Big digital platforms seem to be able to lose money for quite a while in their growth phase. As long as the user-base is suitably massive, investors continue to believe they can be monetised. These new major label deals will be given a chance to play out before anything drastic happens. |
True and you can go to anytime during the mix, unlike Mixcloud which doesn't let you go back, due to some stupid copyright reasons. |
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| Zombie0915 |
Soundcloud is amazing for discovering stuff, you just follow the social chain of people liking stuff and you'll inevitably run into something awesome. If you just press play and leave it alone it will jump to different stuff by itself. I've stumbled upon a lot of nice stuff that way.
I really hope it stays alive, maybe somebody will buy it if its in that bad of shape. |
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| Godking5 |
I too am not a fan of mixcloud.
Music streaming is such a competitive space. Soundcloud was too slow to monetize and was beat out by spotify, even though im fairly certain soundcloud waas before spotify.
As someone else mentioned, I dont think soundcloud has ever been profitable since its creation.
IMO their biggest problem was retention, and that was because while they were only able to secure one side of the platform ( content creators) , but didnt have any incentives in place to secure the other side of the platform (content consumers). There was little advantage to signing up for soundcloud. There was no conversion funnel or sales cycle.
They should of offered a better tiered service, similar to a freemium model, each with additional benefits. a) The Free version with no account for web visitors b) The Free Version with an account and c) the paid version
Additional benefits could have included higher quality songs, more download abilities, and a few creative proprietary unique things.
In the "startup world" you call the problem of retention the "leaky bucket" and its part of the Pirate Metrics system ( AARRR which stands for Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Revenue, Referral).
By the time soundcloud actually became agressive in their marketing, they were already displaced by spotify. Fortunately for me, i have downloaded many songs from soundloud over the years via firefox plug in called download helper, all though some times people pst quality songs on soundcloud |
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| Johan (DJ Irish) |
| quote: | Originally posted by Godking5
I too am not a fan of mixcloud.
Music streaming is such a competitive space. Soundcloud was too slow to monetize and was beat out by spotify, even though im fairly certain soundcloud waas before spotify.
As someone else mentioned, I dont think soundcloud has ever been profitable since its creation.
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To be fair non of the On-Demand streaming services has ever been profitable. That goes for Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, Tidal and all the rest of the pack. Not sure about Mixcloud though. They all rely on venture money and have to raise new funds on a yearly basis. Spotify is trying to raise a quaint 500 Million USD for 2016
Even YouTube is suspected to still not be profitable despite it's giant user base and low payout to rights holders(Spotify pays 70% of revenue while YouTube is estimated to pay out only 45%)
What has been the main problem for Soundcloud is not how it has tried to monetize (even though that can be argued to be part of it). The main problem is that didn't bother to secure the proper rights until late in the game scaring away risk adverse investors and at the same getting law suits from left to right.
YouTube can be said to be a more extreme version of that type of strategy but because of its size and the backing of Google it hasn't experienced any proper threats to it's existence. |
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| Mr.Mystery |
| quote: | Originally posted by Godking5
Fortunately for me, i have downloaded many songs from soundloud over the years via firefox plug in called download helper, all though some times people pst quality songs on soundcloud |
You mean you're downloading tracks that are stream-only or... ? |
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