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SoundCloud's Collapse

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Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#261

Post by briandear »

cookiecaper wrote: post #219
bogomipz wrote: post #155

>"In November 2014, SoundCloud closed a deal with Warner Music Group, giving the label an undisclosed cut of revenue from ads, a 3%–5% stake in the company and protection against past copyright infringement from the label." This sounds like terms dictated by the Mob. It's quite telling that the deal also conferred ownership on a content holder in order to be able to license and pay handsomely for their content. This…

>This sounds like terms dictated by the Mob. The simple fact is that copyright protections are far too strong. The copyright cartel doesn't need a shady network of 400 pound men to enforce their schemes; they just use the U.S. Attorney's office instead. How many bright technical entrepreneurs have been crushed by rent-seekers milking the royalties out of a 40-year-old track? Copyright has completely lost the plot. We…

Something is old so now you can’t own it? Does a 40 year old house suddenly become public domain just because people like to visit? If you made something, you and your heirs have a right to that, it doesn’t just get confiscated because it’s popular. Some of Bob Dylan’s songs are over 50 years old; does that mean he shouldn’t own the stuff he created? That is just theft. Nobody has a “right” to anything I create unless I say so.

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#263

Post by Dylan16807 »

pjmlp wrote: post #34
Mikushi wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Happens everywhere. In corp I've seen engineers go behind their manager's back to write something in their favourite language knowing it would've been rejected if discussion had happen beforehand.

And then they go and write a blog entry about how much productive they are now, instead of what was the actual business impact if any, to the company customers or revenue.

I don't follow. If they are coding the right things, then a real increase in productivity means better business impact. If they are coding the wrong things, then language doesn't matter.

How can a programming language choice hurt the business through some mechanism other than productivity? You could say that such a behavior is "indicative of poor choices" but that's begging the question.

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#264

Post by danso »

keithpeter wrote: post #174
kowdermeister wrote: post #80

"Jeff Toig's preferred PowerPoint style is size 10 Arial font with a black background. An earlier version of this story misstated the color." This is the funniest correction I've ever read :)

Yes, I thought that was amusing, the idea that Mr Toig's main complaint about his portrayal in the article was the mis-statement of his preferences for presentations gives you some idea of what it must have been like in the section of the business that he was responsible for (we don't know who provided the correction of course). A previous manager of mine insisted on all documents using 12pt Arial with 18pt line spac…

The correction might not have come directly from him. It was other employees who alleged that he got mad about that typeface not being used, and maybe the reporter got the detail wrong when publishing the story.

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#265

Post by arcticfox »

jameskegel wrote: post #186
bogomipz wrote: post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except that this usage of the word "optics" in popular lexicon predates the U.S. election by at least 4 years. See this "word detective" entry from 2012: http://www.word-detective.com/2012/01/optics/

It does not seem prudent to debate 2017 popular social vernacular with a publication from 2012. (Although your article goes on to support my argument of Optics being a term reserved for political discussion) Optics is a term largely reserved for the stage of political theatre, that is not my assertion, that is the zeitgeist of popular opinion.

> Optics is a term largely reserved for the stage of political theatre, that is not my assertion

It's in both Merriam-Webster [1] and UrbanDictionary [2] as simply relating to public perception, whether it's politics or business.

Weird that you think it's necessary to tell someone what words to use. Do you have a citation for this word suddenly vanishing from English in the past 6 months?

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/optics [2] http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=optic

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#266

Post by manmal »

TheOtherHobbes wrote: post #158
kristopolous wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The x5 return takes partial responsibility for the 80% failure. These foolish business pivots trashes the brand. If there's only one high-return idea in the room and it's clearly hazardous and unlikely to work - there should be no obligation to take it; an investor didn't drop millions to be squandered foolishly.

VC is an entertainment industry. It's about the drama and the excitement. The entire industry is an RPG played with real people and real money. Sometimes returns happen, but in many cases they seem to as much by accident as careful design.

At those insane risk rates (at least for early rounds), it better be as exciting as going to a casino. Nobody in their right mind would provide seed funding with anything but gambling in mind. [Except for those who want to change the world by supporting an idea, of course.]

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#267

Post by fnord123 »

briandear wrote: post #261
cookiecaper wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>This sounds like terms dictated by the Mob. The simple fact is that copyright protections are far too strong. The copyright cartel doesn't need a shady network of 400 pound men to enforce their schemes; they just use the U.S. Attorney's office instead. How many bright technical entrepreneurs have been crushed by rent-seekers milking the royalties out of a 40-year-old track? Copyright has completely lost the plot. We…

Something is old so now you can’t own it? Does a 40 year old house suddenly become public domain just because people like to visit? If you made something, you and your heirs have a right to that, it doesn’t just get confiscated because it’s popular. Some of Bob Dylan’s songs are over 50 years old; does that mean he shouldn’t own the stuff he created? That is just theft. Nobody has a “right” to anything I create unles…

Songs aren't physical things; they are ideas. And you cannot own ideas. Allowing people to own it in the first place was a compromise by the commons so people could make some money from creating things by owning it for a short time. The copyright extensions have stolen these ideas from the commons.

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#268

Post by thatswrong0 »

jerrylives wrote: post #205
jameskegel wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is funny you mention Bandcamp as your flagship example considering how much 1993 duct tape is holding it together. You cannot compare the UI and tech of the two; Bandcamp has neglected the same Courier New interface since they were a startup. SoundCloud engineering is worlds ahead. They were one of the biggest proponents and pioneers of containerized microservice architecture. They took a lot of beatings so that w…

How about this for inspiring? https://daily.bandcamp.com/2017/01/24/everything-is-terrific... Bandcamp, with its "Courier New" interface, has delivered hundreds of millions of dollars in value to its users and artists. And it's still growing. That's cute that soundcloud made a bunch of blog posts about their super elite containerized microserviced architecture. How's their business doing? Who's making money on there…

Something must be terribly wrong at SoundCloud engineering besides the money crunch. They have done nothing to improve the core user experience for years. They've only made it worse on iOS. Try scrolling down the feed a bit on Chrome - it heats your computer up and starts gobbling CPU. None of their paid plans get me higher quality audio, which is sorely needed because by default their audio quality is shit. As an app or paid service, it's trash.

Yet it's the sole music app I use: all of my favorite artists and music are on SoundCloud. The only thing it has going for it is the community.

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#269

Post by nathancahill »

skewart wrote: post #153
cupcakestand wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Best comment in the thread. It shows that one of SoundCloud's key problem is an oligopolostic industry they are dealing with.

I'm not so sure that's true. Their key problem is that they didn't understand how much value there is in up-and-coming, amateur, and underground music. The record labels only have power when it comes to their catalogue. SoundCloud could have truly disrupted the labels by providing an alternative way to promote, monetize, and discover music. But they somehow got off that track.

"track"

Re: SoundCloud's Collapse

#270

Post by flycaliguy »

fnord123 wrote: post #267
briandear wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Something is old so now you can’t own it? Does a 40 year old house suddenly become public domain just because people like to visit? If you made something, you and your heirs have a right to that, it doesn’t just get confiscated because it’s popular. Some of Bob Dylan’s songs are over 50 years old; does that mean he shouldn’t own the stuff he created? That is just theft. Nobody has a “right” to anything I create unles…

Songs aren't physical things; they are ideas. And you cannot own ideas. Allowing people to own it in the first place was a compromise by the commons so people could make some money from creating things by owning it for a short time. The copyright extensions have stolen these ideas from the commons.

A song in this context is not an "idea". They are a recording made by skilled technicians of a performance by skilled musicians. Creating a recording of a song that people want to listen to requires a lot of professionals who deserve compensation.
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