I've felt for the past few months that SoundCloud is just too good to be true. It feels like it's only a matter of time until they get bought out or shut down.
What is going on with SoundCloud?
41–50 of 71 posts
Re: What is going on with SoundCloud?
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Self-hosting is a huge PITA, especially if you don't want to give away your music for free: setting up and maintaining a streaming server and payment system is not trivial at all. Also, if you're not already a big name, self-hosting will make it unlikely for people to discover your music. This was the big thing about SoundCloud: you followed people you like and saw what they liked. The solution is what Bandcamp does:…
So you're saying there's space for a "DIY self-hosting" product which integrates with a promotion network?
If you're promoting music which is deemed to be copyright infringing you will have the same legal problems as if you were hosting it yourself.
Re: What is going on with SoundCloud?
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Self-hosting is a huge PITA, especially if you don't want to give away your music for free: setting up and maintaining a streaming server and payment system is not trivial at all. Also, if you're not already a big name, self-hosting will make it unlikely for people to discover your music. This was the big thing about SoundCloud: you followed people you like and saw what they liked. The solution is what Bandcamp does:…
So you're saying there's space for a "DIY self-hosting" product which integrates with a promotion network?
No, I don't think self hosting is the solution. I still remember the times when every label had its own little online shop for mp3s. Those were dark times: not only did you have to register at every shop separately, most of those shops where just plain unusable: no pre-listening, broken id3 tags, downloading each song from an album separately, charging extra for higher quality, no accompanying artwork, etc.
As I've already written: I think Bandcamp does it very well, and IMHO it is currently the best shop for indie musicians to sell their music online.
Re: What is going on with SoundCloud?
#44Self hosting your stuff is the only reasonable way to publish these days. Everyone who could host it FOR you is falling prey to the DMCA, one after another. Either that, or work to fix this broken system.
Stop and think for a moment about all of the "cloud" services you use and rely on daily. Then think about what you'd do if suddenly some algorithm told the company running that service to cancel your account and bar you from access, without a way for you to appeal. For some services, you're really hosed. I've definitely been re-evaluating my decision to rely so heavily and exclusively on faceless companies for important things as E-mail and web hosting.
Re: What is going on with SoundCloud?
#45Earlier quoted context omitted.
Eh? Mashups are "stolen music" by any reasonable definition.
No, they clearly fall under fair use.
Really, under which clause?
Is it for educational purposes? Using only a small portion of the original work? Is the creator deriving no commercial benefit?
(PS: Fair Use is a legal defense, not a positive rights clearance).
See also: Bridgeport Music Inc vs Dimension Films (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeport_Music,_Inc._v._Dime...)
Re: What is going on with SoundCloud?
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
No, they clearly fall under fair use.
Really, under which clause? Is it for educational purposes? Using only a small portion of the original work? Is the creator deriving no commercial benefit? (PS: Fair Use is a legal defense, not a positive rights clearance). See also: Bridgeport Music Inc vs Dimension Films ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeport_Music,_Inc._v._Dime... )
It's often at least the latter two things. Sampling is huge, though, without it we wouldn't have a lot of music. IANAL but there's clearly precedent.
Re: What is going on with SoundCloud?
#47Earlier quoted context omitted.
Really, under which clause? Is it for educational purposes? Using only a small portion of the original work? Is the creator deriving no commercial benefit? (PS: Fair Use is a legal defense, not a positive rights clearance). See also: Bridgeport Music Inc vs Dimension Films ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgeport_Music,_Inc._v._Dime... )
It's often at least the latter two things. Sampling is huge , though, without it we wouldn't have a lot of music. IANAL but there's clearly precedent.
So people are releasing these totally anonymously? Self-promotion is very much a commercial benefit.
Re: What is going on with SoundCloud?
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's often at least the latter two things. Sampling is huge , though, without it we wouldn't have a lot of music. IANAL but there's clearly precedent.
So people are releasing these totally anonymously? Self-promotion is very much a commercial benefit.
Hah. That's taking things too far.
Re: What is going on with SoundCloud?
#49Re: What is going on with SoundCloud?
#50It's a shame, really. SoundCloud used to be good service for independent musicians, and I really liked the social aspects of it and the integration into Ableton. But next thing you know, you read about deals with Warner and 100M funding and whatnot. Let's just hope Bandcamp keeps its focus; it's currently my favourite site for discovering new music.
SoundCloud's take-down algorithms are only targeting musicians who rely on sampling copyrighted works. This, clearly, is a large chunk of SoundCloud's current user base but I honestly think this will result in a net increase in quality.
> Paradoxically, the takedowns are often hurting the artists that they’re meant to be protecting. On August 12, London DJ Plastician had a track he produced, owned and released on his own label blocked by SoundCloud’s copyright detection algorithm.