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SoundCloud raises $75M from SiriusXM

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Re: SoundCloud raises $75M from SiriusXM

#221

Post by mandelbrotwurst »

taurath wrote: post #155
ericabiz wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm definitely in the minority here, but I cancelled my Spotify subscription in favor of SiriusXM. There were a couple changes they've made recently that made this make sense. One, all their car subscriptions now come with an app version. And two, they have a pretty cool Web UI ( https://player.siriusxm.com ) where you can listen to any channel live or experiment with "Xtra" channels (it's a Pandora integration.) My…

If you really want to lock in your long mix/specific moods, check out di.fm. Its all hand curated and the genre's all have a particular mood about them, many of which are just the right amount of vocal/nonvocal to push you through a day. Also just a warning - SiriusXM doesn't just let you leave. They have some of the most aggressive "winback" salespeople in the business, and they will NEVER stop mailing you offers th…

Yeah, I bought a used car and have never even been a customer of theirs but I guess they bought my info from someone and I have been getting their mailings nonstop.

The worst are the ones in blank envelopes with no return address that look like they could be from a bank or something.

Re: SoundCloud raises $75M from SiriusXM

#222

Post by seppin »

vonseel wrote: post #169
seppin wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I feel like I'm in the minority of those who love SoundCloud. It's the only music streaming service that takes discovery seriously, and it's the only one I use.

Call me basic, but Spotify's algorithms for discovery are pretty damn good.

Soundcloud lets you focus on your favorite music by type, country, etc.

https://soundcloud.com/charts/new?genre=deephouse&country=al...

Re: SoundCloud raises $75M from SiriusXM

#223

Post by tdhoot »

nolok wrote: post #198
kingbirdy wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It used to be that Sirius and XM were two separate companies providing competing services. Unfortunately in 2008 the US DoJ allowed them to merge on the basis that FM & internet radio were sufficient competition.

Is the DOJ ever denying merger anymore though? European here so probably biased but I feel like US regulatory tools have taken a serious step back the last 15 / 20 years

The DOJ sued to stop the merger of AT&T and Time Warner (DOJ lost). The DOJ sued to stop the merger of T-Mobile and AT&T when they tried a few years back (AT&T backed down). It also sued to stop the merger of T-Mobile and Sprint (DOJ settled).

Re: SoundCloud raises $75M from SiriusXM

#224

Post by nikisweeting »

playing_colours wrote: post #158
nikisweeting wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I completely disagree on almost every point. As a daily SoundCloud user, the discovery is a mile above and beyond every other platform I've tried, including Apple Music and Spotify. SoundClouds weekly "The Upload" playlist has more good music in it than any other automatic playlist I follow, I cant even remember the last time it had a song on it I didn't like. I'm not sure how some people get such a different experie…

A very curious bug, could you make it more than 2001-2002? The limit on follower can be an related to a typical problem with building activity feeds on scale : push vs / with pull.

So solve it the way Twitter and Reddit have solved it, by choosing a different random subset of 200 of your follows to consider on every pageload.

Re: SoundCloud raises $75M from SiriusXM

#225

Post by nikisweeting »

seppin wrote: post #150
nikisweeting wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their "The Upload" playlist is consistently the source of some of my favorite music on the internet, it almost never has a song I don't like. Whichever engineers worked on it deserve a raise.

Also https://hypem.com/popular is a fantastic interface (with a great mobile app too), it takes mostly from SC.

HypeMachine is a great platform, I've never gotten super into using it though, not sure why.

Re: SoundCloud raises $75M from SiriusXM

#226

Post by thirdsun »

mojuba wrote: post #59

I feel like I'm in the minority of those who love SoundCloud. It's one the very few places for indie music makers and DJs to showcase their work that otherwise may not necessarily be published via the official publishing channels. That includes e.g. long running DJ mixes, not exactly the type of material for the official release bureaucracy and associated costs. The only problem with SoundCloud is that instead of fol…

> I feel like I'm in the minority of those who love SoundCloud. It's one the very few places for indie music makers and DJs to showcase their work that otherwise may not necessarily be published via the official publishing channels. That includes e.g. long running DJ mixes, not exactly the type of material for the official release bureaucracy and associated costs.

Soundcloud is indeed great for mixes and sets. They have valuable and unique content, yet the product remains very barebones and lackluster. Poor audio quality (still 128 kbps MP3 I think?), no concept of tracklists/timestamps and most importantly your playback position and queue isn't persistent. This is crucial for a medium used to listen to hours long mixes - as a user I expect to be able to pause and pick up my currently playing set later, on any device.

The lack of this feature basically forces me to manage my playback queue in a different tool, like a note taking or todo app. I estimate that I have countless unfinished sets in my history that I simply forget to finish since once you close your browser window/app the content is basically off my radar. Imagine Netflix not saving your viewing progress - it's absurd.

I think Mixcloud is the much better product - it just lacks the vast amount of content (they are gettign there) and numbers of listeners unfortunately. They also have a sound business/pricing model - although that may indeed be a barrier to listener growth.

Re: SoundCloud raises $75M from SiriusXM

#227

Post by vonseel »

seppin wrote: post #222
vonseel wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Call me basic, but Spotify's algorithms for discovery are pretty damn good.

Soundcloud lets you focus on your favorite music by type, country, etc. https://soundcloud.com/charts/new?genre=deephouse&country=al...

Interesting, though I don’t personally find that useful. I’d rather use a service that finds music I may like based on what I listen to - regardless of origin - than one where I am the curator and must actively search/browse for new artists.

It’s refreshing to hear non-musicians actually use SoundCloud to listen to music, though.

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