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SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

factmag.com

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Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#221

Post by cJ0th »

baddox wrote: post #217
cJ0th wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> there is tons of music that has been created in the past 5+ years that exists exclusively there, and it would be a tremendous cultural loss if it were to disappear. I don't know. We would obviously loose a fragment of history but if those tracks were so important culturally then they would have been distributed more widely. For instance, pressed on CD or vinyl or utilized in a movie or pirated in some way. While I…

The trouble is that cultural importance is an aggregation of the preferences and behavior of millions of people, but hosting and backing up digital content requires deliberate action (and money) from individuals. In other words, stuff doesn't just automatically get hosted and backed up because a bunch of people enjoy the stuff.

I think we have to accept that life is messy and there won't be a perfect solution but many different tools that enable us to keep more and more stuff alive.

Peer2peer technology could be part of the solution. Spreading stuff on bit torrent doesn't require too much work from an individual.

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#222

Post by jfoster »

Is this article based on anything substantial?

They lost $44m in 2014 but raised $77m in 2015.

The article refers to a report saying SoundCloud is heavily reliant on “further capital investment” to continue operating. Isn't that just another way of saying they're currently not turning a profit? Wouldn't that have been true of YouTube prior to acquisition?

I'm not familiar with FACT. Looks like it may be a legitimate music industry publication. Looking at the other SoundCloud articles, it seems about 50% of them are in some way negative. That suggests to me that they might have an agenda they're pushing.

http://www.factmag.com/tag/soundcloud/

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#223

Post by sakopov »

I used to produce tech/progressive trance back in the day as a hobby (you can checkout snippets from some of my tracks from SC link below) and remember when SoundCloud first came into the picture. It was a great platform to connect with others who dabble in music production and share tips. It has since become the breeding ground for up and coming EDM producers. A really cool place on the web and it'd be a shame if they closed down shop.

https://soundcloud.com/sergei-a

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#224

Post by tshannon »

badloginagain wrote: post #171
cmyr wrote: post #103

Soundcloud is absolutely ubiquitous in the electronic music community. I was talking about this with a friend recently who is a programmer and a (relatively) well known composer, and she made the point that soundcloud actually represents a very important cultural document; there is tons of music that has been created in the past 5+ years that exists exclusively there, and it would be a tremendous cultural loss if it…

When Grooveshark shut down, I lost some fantastic artists. There was a low-distraction music station for programmers [writhem radio] I would listen to, which was gaining some popularity and would have music guests DJ their new stuff. When Grooveshark died, that set of original music spun by the DJs was essentially lost- which sucked because that was my go-to for "work music". I've only started to find the tracks agai…

Yeah, I found so much new music from grooveshark broadcasts.

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#225

Post by jafingi »

Reminds me of the danish site MyMusic.dk that was founded in 1998, and became the go-to site of danish underground artists. In 2010 it just disappeared from the web, and 12 years of music from 16.000 danish artists were just _gone_.

It reappeared as Bandbase.dk for a while, but then went bankrupt again.

That said, I think Soundcloud has missed a huge opportunity by being market leaders. They could have taken the best from Bandcamp, and earned royalties from each sale. It would make it so easy for indie artists to earn a little money from what they love, and also make Soundcloud money. Instead, artists are putting up 30 second previews on Soundcloud with a link to Bandcamp to buy/download for free.

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#226

Post by pmarreck »

cmyr wrote: post #103

Soundcloud is absolutely ubiquitous in the electronic music community. I was talking about this with a friend recently who is a programmer and a (relatively) well known composer, and she made the point that soundcloud actually represents a very important cultural document; there is tons of music that has been created in the past 5+ years that exists exclusively there, and it would be a tremendous cultural loss if it…

> Soundcloud is absolutely ubiquitous in the electronic music community

You're not understating this. As a lifelong electronic music fan who has discovered some fantastic new remixes on SoundCloud over the years, the disappearance of SoundCloud would be a large cultural loss.

Even if one is not a fan of that sort of music, surely one could empathize.

EXAMPLE: https://soundcloud.com/moonchild/04-love-birds-vengeance-rem...

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#227

Post by rubicon33 »

badloginagain wrote: post #171
cmyr wrote: post #103

Soundcloud is absolutely ubiquitous in the electronic music community. I was talking about this with a friend recently who is a programmer and a (relatively) well known composer, and she made the point that soundcloud actually represents a very important cultural document; there is tons of music that has been created in the past 5+ years that exists exclusively there, and it would be a tremendous cultural loss if it…

When Grooveshark shut down, I lost some fantastic artists. There was a low-distraction music station for programmers [writhem radio] I would listen to, which was gaining some popularity and would have music guests DJ their new stuff. When Grooveshark died, that set of original music spun by the DJs was essentially lost- which sucked because that was my go-to for "work music". I've only started to find the tracks agai…

I had the same experience when Grooveshark shut down. It's weird. I didn't realize just how awesome their service was. On the face of it, the technology wasn't particularly novel.

It was the content that kept me coming back. Mostly the radio shows like WritheM and Electro Chill.

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#229

Post by kyrre »

cmyr wrote: post #103

Soundcloud is absolutely ubiquitous in the electronic music community. I was talking about this with a friend recently who is a programmer and a (relatively) well known composer, and she made the point that soundcloud actually represents a very important cultural document; there is tons of music that has been created in the past 5+ years that exists exclusively there, and it would be a tremendous cultural loss if it…

i think you are forgetting youtube

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#230

Post by jlarocco »

erickhill wrote: post #216
jlarocco wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Honestly, I don't think the solution even requires that much creativity or innovation. Just in the past 3 or 4 months I've found half a dozen or more artists on Soundcloud, then headed over to Bandcamp or Amazon to buy and download their music. It would be awesome if I could buy it right there on Soundcloud. Every song could have a "Buy MP3" and "Buy Album" button right there by the Like, Share and other buttons. May…

A lot of the music posted is a single here, a single there - often before official release. Sometimes it isn't weeks until that single (or larger album) is available for purchase. Plus, for the electronic/DJ side of things, many of the tracks posted are remixes which aren't ever for sale (it seems). But from a scale standpoint, you would think that there might be some sort of revenue opportunity there.

I don't see how that changes anything.

Post the single with a "Available to buy on " notice. When it's officially released, take down the notice and put up "Buy now" buttons. And there's no reason they have to make every song available for sale or every song that's for sale available for streaming.

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