Soundcloud
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.
112 (As of April 2017)History
SoundCloud was established in Berlin in August 2007 by Swedish sound designer Alexander Ljung and Swedish electronic musician Eric Wahlforss, and the web site was launched in October 2008.[4] It was originally intended to allow musicians to collaborate by facilitating the sharing and discussion of recordings, but later transformed into a publishing tool for music distribution.[5]According to Wired magazine, soon after its inception, SoundCloud began to challenge the dominance of Myspace as a platform for musicians to distribute their music.[5]
In April 2009, SoundCloud received €2.5 million Series A funding from Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures.[6] In May 2010, SoundCloud announced it had one million users.[6] In January 2011, it was reported that SoundCloud had raised US$10 million Series B funding from Union Square Ventures andIndex Ventures. On 15 June 2011, SoundCloud reported five million registered users and investments from Ashton Kutcherand Guy Oseary's A-Grade Fund, and on January 23, 2012, it reported 10 million registered users.[7] In May 2012, it was announced that SoundCloud had 15 million users, and site usage was increasing by 1.5 million users per month.[8]
A new API was released in December 2012 which improved mobile device support and added features such as concurrent listening and site navigation, and the ability to create personal collections.[8] The response from users was mixed, and many expressed dissatisfaction with the change.[9] At this time, SoundCloud was reported to be "reaching 180 million people per month", with 10 hours of content being uploaded per minute.[10]
In March 2013, Twitter announced it would partner with SoundCloud in developing its first integrated music app. However, the project never moved forward because SoundCloud was unable to accommodate licensed music due to a lack of necessary arrangements with music labels.[11][12] In July 2013, SoundCloud had 40 million registered users and listens were growing at a rate of 20 million per month.[13]
SoundCloud announced in January 2014 that it had commenced licensing negotiations with major music companies to address the matter of unauthorised, copyrighted material regularly appearing on the platform.[14][not in citation given] The announcement followed a round of funding in which US$60 million was raised, resulting in a $700 million valuation.[12] According to media sources, the negotiations were initiated in an attempt to avoid similar problems faced by Google, which had been forced to handle a large number of takedown notices on itsYouTube video-sharing platform.[15]
In May 2014, it was reported that Twitter was considering the acquisition of SoundCloud for approximately US$2 billion. However, the prospect of acquisition was discounted by the media, with one report stating that "the numbers didn't add up",[16] and Bobby Owsinski hypothesizing on the Forbes website in July that SoundCloud's ongoing inability to secure deals with the major music labels was the foremost culprit.[17]
On 28 September 2016, Spotify announced that it was in talks to buy SoundCloud,[18] but on 8 December 2016, Spotify was reported to have abandoned its acquisition plans.[19]
In July 2017, SoundCloud announced that it would close its San Francisco and London offices and lay off 173 out of 420 employees in an effort to become profitable, with the remaining staff operating out of offices in Berlin and New York.[20][21][22]
Monetization, subscription services
In August 2014, SoundCloud announced a new program known as "On SoundCloud", which would allow "premier" partners to monetize their content through pre-roll audio ads, channel sponsorships, mobile display ads, and native content. The company announced deals with a number of content partners (including Comedy Central andFunny or Die), independent labels, and YouTube multi-channel networks, and that it was in "active and ongoing, advanced discussion[s]" with major record labels.[23]
In December 2014, it was reported that SoundCloud could potentially raise approximately US$150 million in new financing, resulting in a valuation surpassing one billion dollars. The major label issue became prominent again when the new financing information was released, as the lack of monetization was presented as an issue—SoundCloud had managed to sign an agreement with Warner Music Group as part of the new premier program that allows both Warner Music, which also has a minor stake in the company, and its publishing division to collect royalties for songs they have chosen to monetize on the site; meanwhile, the other labels remained skeptical of the company's business model.[24][25] By December 2014, SoundCloud had shared ad revenue with about 60 other Premier Partners.[24][25]Concerns over the amount of revenue from the program led Sony Music Entertainment to pull its content from the service entirely in May 2015.[26] In June 2015, SoundCloud announced that it had reached a deal with theMerlin Network, a group representing 20,000 independent record labels, to monetize their content through the premier partner program.[27]
In January and March 2016, SoundCloud reached respective deals with Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment. A UMG spokesperson told The New York Times that the deal would give the company an option to require certain content to be restricted to paid subscribers—a statement suggesting that SoundCloud was preparing to launch its subscription streaming service.[28][29][30]
On 29 March 2016, SoundCloud launched its subscription music streaming service, SoundCloud Go.[31] In February 2017, SoundCloud launched a mid-range subscription tier named SoundCloud Go, that allows users to remove ads and listen offline for $5 per month.[32] The original version, which was renamed SoundCloud Go+, allows access to over 150 million songs, offline playback, no ads, no previews, and premium music tracks for $10 per month.[33][34]
Features
Among SoundCloud's key features is the ability to access uploaded files via uniqueURLs, thus allowing sound files to be embedded in Twitter and Facebook posts (note: as of 12 August 2015, mobile devices require a SoundCloud app to play a track within Facebook, an issue confirmed by SoundCloud in November 2016[35]). A file may be embedded by clicking a share button corresponding to the target site (e.g., Twitter). This contrasts with MySpace, which does not have reshare buttons.[5]
Registered users are allowed to listen to unlimited audio and may upload up to 180 minutes of audio to their profile at no cost.[36][37][38]
SoundCloud distributes music using widgetsand apps.[6] Users can place the widget on their own websites or blogs, and then SoundCloud will automatically tweet every track uploaded.[5]
SoundCloud depicts audio tracks graphically as waveforms and allows users to post "timed comments" on specific parts of any track. These comments are displayed while the associated audio segment is played.
Users are allowed to create playlists (previously known as "sets"), and to "Like", "Repost", and "Share", to "Follow" another user, and to make complimentary downloadsof their audio available.[39]
SoundCloud's API allows other applications orsmartphones to upload music and sound files, or download files if the user has permission to do so.[5] This API has been integrated into several applications, including GarageBand,Logic Pro, and PreSonus Studio One DAW.[40]
Subscription services
SoundCloud Pro
SoundCloud offers premium services for musicians under the banner SoundCloud Pro. The SoundCloud Pro service allows users to upload up to six hours of audio, and adds additional features such as enhanced analytics, and the ability to disable comments on tracks. The Pro Unlimited tier allows unlimited uploads.[42]
SoundCloud Go
On 29 March 2016, SoundCloud unveiled SoundCloud Go, a subscription-based music streaming service; the service provides an ad-free experience, offline playback, and integrates licensed music from major labels into the existing, user-uploaded content of the service.[43] Co-founder Eric Wahlforss stated that this aspect would help to differentiate SoundCloud Go from other music streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music, as it technically provides a larger total library of songs than competing services, with a higher degree of diversity in its content. The Vergefound that, excluding existing content uploaded by users, the service's initial library of songs is smaller than those of its closest competitors.[31][44]
The service was initially priced at US$10 per-month. On 28 February 2017, SoundCloud renamed its main Go plan SoundCloud Go+, and added a secondary tier titled SoundCloud Go at a US$5 price point, which does not include the licensed music library, but still offers ad-free and offline playback.[43][45]
Mobile apps
SoundCloud offers two mobile apps; the main SoundCloud app is oriented towards streaming, with music discovery, playlist, and sharing features.[46] In November 2015, a separate app known as SoundCloud Pulse was first released for Android; it is primarily oriented towards content creators, allowing users to upload and manage their uploads, reply to comments, and view statistics. Pulse's features were previously located within the main app; senior marketing manager Brendan Codey explained that the shift to separate apps was meant to allow SoundCloud to improve its user experience for content consumers, without having to worry about how these changes affect features oriented towards creators.[47]
By the end of 2016, SoundCloud's Android app had over 100 million downloads.[48]
On 1 April 2017, Chromecast support was added to the main SoundCloud iOS app.[49]
Comments
Post a Comment