Tina Parker
SoundCloud, a legal, music-sharing site based out of Berlin has become an audio platform for musicians, journalists, bloggers, publishers and educators to share recordings publicly. SoundCloud gives anyone the ability to record audio and upload privately or share publicly, with up to 30 minutes to an hour for free.
Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss founded SoundCloud out of frustrations because of the lack of sites that would allow large files to be sent and received over the Web.
“They decided to build a platform that would not only solve this problem, but that would enable any audio creators to collaborate on projects, receive feedback on their work and ultimately share their creations with anyone, anywhere,” according to SoundCloud.com.
SoundCloud users can record audio directly to their account or upload audio with more than 10,000 applications and has developed a fully customizable widget through SoundCloud’s Application Programming Interface (API) that has a toolkit of functions. Widgets are different from applications because widgets automatically run updates, whereas apps are updated manually by the user.
“We realized that everybody had a microphone in their pocket, and we designed an app for it and it really began to take off. First with the iPhone, then Android and just recently we hit five million downloads of our apps,” Wahlforss said during a video.
Though SoundCloud was originally founded as a way to share sounds, it has already begun to branch out into other areas such as academia and e-books.
Stanford University’s School of Engineering uses the site to post audio presented by the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP) Entrepreneurship Corner, called Stanford eCorner. It has an archive of lectures from entrepreneurs and innovative thought leaders that can be used as a free resource for teaching and learning.
Penguin Books UK uses SoundCloud to post audiobook extracts so listeners can preview a featured audiobook before purchase. Penguin Books has 98 audiobooks that are roughly five minutes in length.
SoundCloud can also be beneficial to journalists — instead of carrying around a recorder a reporter can use the stock recorder on a cellphone and upload files directly using the SoundCloud app. Instantly, an interview is archived for the user, privately.
The user can also select with whom it shares information. For instance, if a reporter needs to provide a source to their editor, they can give them sole access to review the interview for immediate accuracy.
NPR: All Things Considered is requesting “sounds of your city” to become a part of a “multimedia interactive” through the NPR Cities Project, which will feature sounds that you hear on an everyday basis that makes your city unique. The audio files can be uploaded to SoundCloud using the hashtag #nprcities and could be used on All Things Considered or TED Radio Hour. NPR’s music blog All Songs Considered, hosted by Bob Boilen, NPR’s original host for All Things Considered, also uses SoundCloud as another way to interact with listeners; currently All Songs Considered has sent out a request on its blog asking fans upload to songs that remind them of their prom, accompanied by a story as to why they chose the particular song. Their story, if chosen, could also be featured on All Things Considered.
Even established musicians use SoundCloud to reach their fan base more directly. In April, Fiona Apple posted her first recording in over seven years on her page called “Every Single Night” as a preview to her upcoming album release scheduled for June 2012.
Zeek Martin, KXUA station manager, said, “SoundCloud is useful for recording interviews. If we do an on-air interview with someone and another DJ wants to play that interview, we save it to SoundCloud. This is very station specific, but since audio can be saved in various forms other than MP3 or a wave file it won’t interfere with our iTunes, so it can be played directly. It’s also a great way to find a bunch of new music that is under the Creative Commons License.
Creative Commons is essentially a copyright that allows free use of audio with attributions to the original artist. A lot of electronic musicians put their music on the site and encourage people to do remixes, which inherently creates a community of similar-minded artists. The dubstep community really shares their music, a lot,” Martin said.
SoundCloud gives a musician the tools to master tracks online, distribute digitally and these features are beneficial to an amateur creator, whereas, a premium account holder has additional features that are more advanced with custom branding, controlled distribution and personal site statistics. Another plug-in can create a customizable audio player that will allow audio, such as music or interviews, to be played on Android, Palm and iOS by embedding code which can be then be embed on to numerous web pages, social networking sites or blogs. The site also allows for feedback from listeners, which can be helpful to musicians that are fine-tuning their sound or marketing towards a specific genre. This listener interaction allows the account holder to trigger events on their page, such as track loading, playlist control and music sets.
“KXUA genre shows often use SoundCloud; for me, if I wanted to do a show that is drumstep, instead of dubstep, I can do a search and all of a sudden, I’ve got all these free songs that I can use, which will auto play from one song to the next,” Martin said.
T. Jay, a local music producer at trakLeague, sells his beats on SoundCloud. “I use it to sell beats and showcase my songs. It connects to a ton of different social media sites i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr and other online tools that musicians can use to gain exposure. My approach is different than most producers on the internet because I choose to work exclusively with certain artists. So Artist A will go to my SoundCloud, listen to some beats and say, hey, I want to work with trakLeague. They email me a link to their music, I listen to that music, and if I like it I send them my exclusive rates. Every artist is tailored to a beat that I make or vice versa. I give them a choice of one single, five track EP, or a 13-18 track album,” he said. “The market is spotty because I don’t just throw my music out there like buttery rolls but when there is a pay day, it’s $300-750 per project and their project acts as a business card for me,” said Jay.
Wakarusa, an Arkansas held music festival, has a contest called the “Waka DJ Classic.” It’s the third year that Wakarusa has staged this contest, and the event is specifically designed for DJs to compete for a spot on Wakarusa’s 2012 line-up. The promotion gives Arkansans the chance to win a spot in the line-up by the number of votes they receive on SoundCloud.
Luis Mondragon is using his SoundCloud account to enter the Waka DJ Classic. “The Waka folks are using it as a tool to give public a chance to win a spot. It’s a very creative way of using the site,” he said. “It is free, easy, and people can leave comments as the audio plays, similar to a timeline. I really like it!”
SoundCloud recently rolled out a new feature called Story Wheel. It allows users to record a story around Instagram pictures and share it on the Web as a nostalgic slideshow. “New projects like ‘Story Wheel’ demonstrate how placing sound as the central component of an online experience can be incredibly powerful,” said Wahlforss.
In January, SoundCloud celebrated reaching over 10 million users. “As we continue to work hard to innovate on our platform and API, it’s the support and creativity of our community that motivate and inspire us every day,” said Wahlforss.
Tina L. Parker 