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SoundCloud has an [[Application programming interface|API]] that allows other applications or [[smartphone]]s to upload or download music and sound files.<ref name= "Wired_01"/>
SoundCloud has an [[Application programming interface|API]] that allows other applications or [[smartphone]]s to upload or download music and sound files.<ref name= "Wired_01"/>


This API has been integrated into several applications, most notably the professional version of the [[PreSonus Studio One]] [[Digital audio workstation|DAW]].<ref>{{Cite web
This API has been integrated into several applications, most notably [[GarageBand]], [[Logic Pro]], and [[PreSonus Studio One]] [[Digital audio workstation|DAW]].<ref>{{Cite web
| title = Musikmesse 2010: PreSonus launches major enhancements to Studio One
| title = Musikmesse 2010: PreSonus launches major enhancements to Studio One
| work = MusicRadar.com
| work = MusicRadar.com

Revision as of 02:02, 12 March 2014

SoundCloud
File:SoundCloud logo.svg
Type of businessPrivately held company
Type of site
Social networking service, music website
Founded2007 (Berlin, Germany)
Headquarters
Berlin
,
Germany
Area servedWorldwide
Founder(s)Alexander Ljung
Eric Wahlforss
Key peopleAlexander Ljung (Founder & CEO)
Eric Wahlforss (Founder & CTO)
Dave Haynes (VP Business Development),
David Noël (Evangelist & Community Manager)
Employees190
URLsoundcloud.com
RegistrationRequired to post and upload content
Users40 million registered users, 200 million listeners[1]
LaunchedOctober 2008

SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform based in Berlin, Germany that enables its users to upload, record, promote and share their originally-created sounds. In July 2013, it had 40 million registered users and 200 million listeners[3]

History

SoundCloud was originally started in Stockholm, Sweden, but it was established in Berlin in August 2007 by Swedish sound designer Alex Ljung and Swedish artist Eric Wahlforss. It had the intention of allowing musicians to share recordings with each other, but it later transformed into a full publishing tool which also allowed musicians to distribute their music tracks.[4]

A few months after it began operating, SoundCloud began to challenge the dominance of Myspace as a platform for musicians to distribute their music by allowing recording artists to interact more nimbly with their fans.[4]

In a 2009 interview with Wired, co-founder Alex Ljung said:

We both came from backgrounds connected to music, and it was just really, really annoying for us to collaborate with people on music—I mean simple collaboration, just sending tracks to other people in a private setting, getting some feedback from them, and having a conversation about that piece of music. In the same way that we’d be using Flickr for our photos, and Vimeo for our videos, we didn't have that kind of platform for our music.[4]

In April 2009, SoundCloud received €2.5 million Series A funding from Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures.[5] By May 2010, SoundCloud announced it had one million subscribers.[5] In January 2011, it was confirmed that SoundCloud had raised a $10 million Series B funding round from Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures. On 15 June 2011, SoundCloud announced they had five million registered users, and investments from Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary's A-Grade Fund. On 23 January 2012, SoundCloud announced on their blog that they had 10 million registered users. A story wheel was created for the occasion, which can be found on the SoundCloud blog.[6] In December 2012, a new SoundCloud layout was released to the general public. Among the many new features was the ability to continue playback of a track whilst navigating around the site, and the ability to read comments without them obscuring the waveform.

Features

One of the key features of SoundCloud is that it lets artists upload their music with a distinctive URL. By allowing sound files to be embedded anywhere, SoundCloud can be combined with Twitter and Facebook to let members reach their audience better. This contrasts with MySpace, which hosts music only on the MySpace site.[4]

SoundCloud distributes music using widgets and apps.[5] Users can place the widget on their own websites or blogs and then SoundCloud will automatically tweet every track uploaded.[4] SoundCloud has an API that allows other applications or smartphones to upload or download music and sound files.[4]

This API has been integrated into several applications, most notably GarageBand, Logic Pro, and PreSonus Studio One DAW.[7] The API is also integrated in music finders, including SoundYouNeed.[8] Users may also download a music with creative commons licence by this API.

SoundCloud depicts audio tracks graphically as waveforms and allows users to comment on specific parts of the track (also known as timed comments). These comments are displayed while listening to the part of the sound they are referring to. Other standard features include reposts, playlists (previously known as "sets"),[citation needed] followers, and complimentary digital downloads.[9]

SoundCloud also provides users with the ability to create and join groups that provide a common space for content to be collected and shared.

SoundCloud offers additional features to users with paid subscriptions. Such users are given more hosting space and may distribute their tracks or recordings to more groups and users, create sets of recordings, and more thoroughly track the statistics for each of their tracks. Additional statistic data are unlocked depending on which subscription the user has chosen, including the number of listens per track per user and the originating country of individual listens.[10]

SoundCloud also releases applications for popular mobile operating systems like iOS[11] and Android[12]

Recognition

SoundCloud won the Schroders Innovation Award at the 2011 European Tech Tour Awards Dinner.[13][14]

Criticism

As SoundCloud has grown and expanded beyond its initial user base primarily consisting of grassroots musicians, some original users have complained that it is losing its fidelity to artists in an attempt to appeal to the masses, perhaps in preparation for public sale.[15] Such criticism particularly followed the launching of a revamped website in 2013 that was heavily reconfigured to be more amenable to listeners—at the expense of artists, some claimed. CEO Ljung responded that while he would take these criticisms into consideration, these listener-friendly changes would likely attract many new users.

Blocking

Access to SoundCloud website has been blocked by the Government of Turkey on 24 January 2014.[16][17][18][19] A user named "haramzadeler" ("illegal ones" in Turkish) uploaded a total of 7 secretly recorded phone call tapes which reveal private conversations between Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (the Turkish Prime Minister) and others, including: Erdoğan Bayraktar, local politicians, some businessmen, PM's daughter Sümeyye Erdoğan and his son Bilal Erdoğan. Linked to the 2013 corruption scandal in Turkey, sound recordings revealed some conversations of illegal activity and possible bribery, mainly about building permit of luxurious villas on protected cultural heritage sites in Urla, İzmir.[20]

Opposition party Cumhuriyet Halk Partisi submitted a parliamentary question to TBMM concerning the issue and the questionnaire particularly asks for reasons of banning SoundCloud services without any proper case and/or reason.[21][22]

References

  1. ^ Jefferson Graham (17 July 2013). "Who's listening to SoundCloud? 200 million". USA Today.
  2. ^ "Alexa traffic rank".
  3. ^ Jefferson Graham (17 July 2013). "Who's listening to SoundCloud? 200 million". USA Today.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Eliot Van Buskirk (6 July 2009). "SoundCloud Threatens MySpace as Music Destination for Twitter Era". Wired.
  5. ^ a b c Mike Butcher (18 May 2010). "Now a million on SoundCloud – This startup is scaling globally". TechCrunch. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ David Noël (23 January 2012). "SoundCloud Hits Ten Million Users". SoundCloud.
  7. ^ "Musikmesse 2010: PreSonus launches major enhancements to Studio One". MusicRadar.com. 22 March 2010. Retrieved 27 April 2010.
  8. ^ SoundYouNeed.com
  9. ^ "SoundCloud – Reach to Millions of Music Lovers". Soundcloud Promotion. Retrieved 22 April 2013.
  10. ^ "What's the difference between each subscription level?". SoundCloud. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  11. ^ "SoundCloud iOS app". iTunes Store. Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  12. ^ "SoundCloud for Android". Android (operating system). Retrieved 24 December 2013.
  13. ^ Rooney, Ben (3 November 2011). "Soundcloud, Wonga Win Tech Tour Awards". The Wall Street Journal.
  14. ^ http://www.techtour.com/Entrepreneur-of-the-Year-Award-2011/Testimonials.htm
  15. ^ http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/04/26/soundcloud-manages-criticism-as-it-moves-to-become-the-youtube-of-audio/
  16. ^ Marc Hogan. "Has Turkey Banned SoundCloud?". Spin. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  17. ^ "Soundcloud.com'a erişim engellendi". Sözcü Newspaper (in Turkish). Sözcü. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  18. ^ Oray Egin. "Loose Lips Threaten Turkey's Powerful". Vocativ. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  19. ^ Dorian Jones. "Turkey: Is a Dark Net Rising?". Eurasianet.org. Retrieved 1 February 2014.
  20. ^ "Erdoğan Sacks Izmir Gov'nor for Shady Villa Deal". Aydınlık. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
  21. ^ "Soundcloud.com'u Erdoğan mı kapattı?". Sözcü Newspaper (in Turkish). Sözcü. Retrieved 25 January 2014.
  22. ^ "Turkish main opposition questions Erdoğan about Urla villas". Today's Zaman. Retrieved 30 January 2014.

External links

Template:Digital Distribution Platforms

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