5 ms·

SoundCloud is here to stay

72 points by techthumb 9y ago

et-al 9y ago
Is the music here to stay? The memo doesn't explicitly say, and I think that's main concern of most users.
- tomphoolery 9y ago
  I don't understand how you could have one without the other?
geekrax 9y ago
I was holding off on integrating Soundcloud API. I guess there's no excuse now.
jtmarmon 9y ago
A little self congratulatory no?
- Artemis2 9y ago
  I think they desserve a pass on this one, media made it sound like they were on the brink of imploding in the past few weeks.
  - CharlesW 9y ago
    They were. Without this lifeline deal they had only enough cash to see them through the end of summer if you believe media sources, or until sometime in Q4 if you believe SoundCloud.
- smt88 9y ago
  They need this confident, exuberant tone to reassure their employees, customers, and partners that their investment in SoundCloud is a good idea.
bogomipz 9y ago
>"I’m happy to announce that together with investors The Raine Group and Temasek we’ve just wrapped up the largest financing round in the history of SoundCloud" After a big round of layoffs couldn't that message have been a little bit more nuanced? Also if there is new CEO and COO coming on board what will this individual be doing? Honestly this guy seems a little tone deaf.
- FTA 9y ago
  FTA: "I’m excited to hand the CEO reins over to Kerry to allow me to fully focus on the role of the Chairman and the long-term."
  - bogomipz 9y ago
    Sure but what does that actually mean, in practical terms? What does a "chairman" do? I can't recall any start up that had a full time "chairman." I believe the CEO and COO's job description's very much include looking after the "long-term" goals of the company.
    - joemi 9y ago
      Let me direct you to this Slate piece[1] that explains the whole stepping-aside-as-ceo-to-just-be-a-chairman thing, the mentions when Bill Gates did the same thing at Microsoft and Steve Case at AOL. Obviously some of the specifics are going to be a bit different for Soundcloud, but it still explains the general concept a bit. [1] http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2000/01/whats_the_difference_between_ceos_and_chairmen.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/20...
      - bogomipz 9y ago
        >"Obviously some of the specifics are going to be a bit different for Soundcloud, but it still explains the general concept a bit." However both Bill Gates and Steve Case moved into into an exclusive chairman role after steering their respective companies to great heights and giving investors good returns. This individual is doing so as part of an agreement that's necessary in order keep the company alive. I don't think the specifics could be more different.
strict9 9y ago
SoundCloud, if you want to make money off of me, a devoted listener and user of the platform for 7 or 8 years, it is really easy: Create a frictionless way for me to send a few dollars to artists hosting music on your platform, and you take a cut. I don't want to pay $10 or $20 every month that gets dispersed into the ether. I want to directly thank the DJs and creators that enable me to be productive during the day and relax at night, a few dollars at a time.
- mikodin 9y ago
  I second this! Make me have a subscription for $7 a month, but that money goes directly to an artist I choose and then take a cut.
  - orangejewce 9y ago
    So, you want the twitch.tv model then?
    - shidoshi 9y ago
      I actually don't see that as a bad concept. It might make Amazon/Twitch curious about how they might do the same, but competition is good.
    - dawnerd 9y ago
      Or patreon too
  - Le_SDT 9y ago
    You could have a monthly fee and decide what percentage of it you want to go to specific artists. If you listen a lot to an artist the app could ask you if you want to transfer some percents from one artist to this one. That is a feature that I would personally love to use.
- ff_ 9y ago
  YES! This is the model we should move to in music, media, and arts in general. I think the subscription model is the most valid, but what happens e.g. with Spotify is that most of my subscription goes to a small artists I don't care about. The right way to do it is: take my subscription, take a cut, split the rest to the artists that I listened to based on the amount of playing time I put on each of them.
paulcole 9y ago
6 months from now, "What an incredible journey..."
whitepoplar 9y ago
Business model: Unlimited free streaming with ads. Every artist has a "become a patron" button on their profile. Once you pledge over $10/month in aggregate, ads are removed. Soundcloud takes a 30% cut, like Apple does in the App Store. VIP patrons ($$$) get special perks as outlined by artists.
ChrisArchitect 9y ago
subscribing to labels or artists works for a small amount, Bandcamp does this. I pay an amount to select few of my fave labels that are doing it, and I get unlimited streaming and downloads of new releases It's great. However, Soundcloud serves more purposes. I don't think that works for the rest of the music out there I want to listen to. I mean there are tons of other podcasts, clips, etc that I want to listen to regularly and am not going to pay hundreds of dollars for. SoundCloud's rise to popularity is very much likely because it is a storehouse for audio, the internet needs easy to use and access repositories like this and since no one else was doing it at time, SC did well.

72 points by techthumb 9y ago

et-al 9y ago

Is the music here to stay? The memo doesn't explicitly say, and I think that's main concern of most users.

tomphoolery 9y ago
I don't understand how you could have one without the other?

geekrax 9y ago

I was holding off on integrating Soundcloud API. I guess there's no excuse now.

jtmarmon 9y ago

A little self congratulatory no?

Artemis2 9y ago
I think they desserve a pass on this one, media made it sound like they were on the brink of imploding in the past few weeks.
- CharlesW 9y ago
  They were. Without this lifeline deal they had only enough cash to see them through the end of summer if you believe media sources, or until sometime in Q4 if you believe SoundCloud.
smt88 9y ago
They need this confident, exuberant tone to reassure their employees, customers, and partners that their investment in SoundCloud is a good idea.

bogomipz 9y ago

>"I’m happy to announce that together with investors The Raine Group and Temasek we’ve just wrapped up the largest financing round in the history of SoundCloud" After a big round of layoffs couldn't that message have been a little bit more nuanced? Also if there is new CEO and COO coming on board what will this individual be doing? Honestly this guy seems a little tone deaf.

FTA 9y ago
FTA: "I’m excited to hand the CEO reins over to Kerry to allow me to fully focus on the role of the Chairman and the long-term."
- bogomipz 9y ago
  Sure but what does that actually mean, in practical terms? What does a "chairman" do? I can't recall any start up that had a full time "chairman." I believe the CEO and COO's job description's very much include looking after the "long-term" goals of the company.
  - joemi 9y ago
    Let me direct you to this Slate piece[1] that explains the whole stepping-aside-as-ceo-to-just-be-a-chairman thing, the mentions when Bill Gates did the same thing at Microsoft and Steve Case at AOL. Obviously some of the specifics are going to be a bit different for Soundcloud, but it still explains the general concept a bit. [1] http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2000/01/whats_the_difference_between_ceos_and_chairmen.html http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/20...
    - bogomipz 9y ago
      >"Obviously some of the specifics are going to be a bit different for Soundcloud, but it still explains the general concept a bit." However both Bill Gates and Steve Case moved into into an exclusive chairman role after steering their respective companies to great heights and giving investors good returns. This individual is doing so as part of an agreement that's necessary in order keep the company alive. I don't think the specifics could be more different.

strict9 9y ago

SoundCloud, if you want to make money off of me, a devoted listener and user of the platform for 7 or 8 years, it is really easy: Create a frictionless way for me to send a few dollars to artists hosting music on your platform, and you take a cut. I don't want to pay $10 or $20 every month that gets dispersed into the ether. I want to directly thank the DJs and creators that enable me to be productive during the day and relax at night, a few dollars at a time.

mikodin 9y ago
I second this! Make me have a subscription for $7 a month, but that money goes directly to an artist I choose and then take a cut.
- orangejewce 9y ago
  So, you want the twitch.tv model then?
  - shidoshi 9y ago
    I actually don't see that as a bad concept. It might make Amazon/Twitch curious about how they might do the same, but competition is good.
  - dawnerd 9y ago
    Or patreon too
- Le_SDT 9y ago
  You could have a monthly fee and decide what percentage of it you want to go to specific artists. If you listen a lot to an artist the app could ask you if you want to transfer some percents from one artist to this one. That is a feature that I would personally love to use.
ff_ 9y ago
YES! This is the model we should move to in music, media, and arts in general. I think the subscription model is the most valid, but what happens e.g. with Spotify is that most of my subscription goes to a small artists I don't care about. The right way to do it is: take my subscription, take a cut, split the rest to the artists that I listened to based on the amount of playing time I put on each of them.

paulcole 9y ago

6 months from now, "What an incredible journey..."

whitepoplar 9y ago

Business model: Unlimited free streaming with ads. Every artist has a "become a patron" button on their profile. Once you pledge over $10/month in aggregate, ads are removed. Soundcloud takes a 30% cut, like Apple does in the App Store. VIP patrons ($$$) get special perks as outlined by artists.

ChrisArchitect 9y ago

subscribing to labels or artists works for a small amount, Bandcamp does this. I pay an amount to select few of my fave labels that are doing it, and I get unlimited streaming and downloads of new releases It's great. However, Soundcloud serves more purposes. I don't think that works for the rest of the music out there I want to listen to. I mean there are tons of other podcasts, clips, etc that I want to listen to regularly and am not going to pay hundreds of dollars for. SoundCloud's rise to popularity is very much likely because it is a storehouse for audio, the internet needs easy to use and access repositories like this and since no one else was doing it at time, SC did well.