I don’t remember when I first got turned on to SoundCloud, but I’m glad that I did. If you’re not familiar with the site, lovingly calling it the “YouTube of Music” (thanks, Sam Houston) isn’t too far off as a descriptor. SoundCloud is a site where you can create, upload and share user generated music – user generated being the hook, which sets it apart from other music sites such as Spotify or Pandora.
Are you a DJ and looking to get your latest mix out there? Try SoundCloud. Just formed a band and want to get some buzz going about your music? Upload it to SoundCloud. Are you a music fan and want something with a raw, non-commercial feel to it? You’re not really going to make me say it a third time, are you?
Something else I love about SoundCloud is its social aspect. These days a site on the web can’t exist without social hooks. Each artist on SoundCloud gets a profile page and can enter a brief biography and all the standard links to YouTube, Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter. You can also “follow” artists you’re interested in to stay dialed into their uploads of new music. My follower list is still small, but definitely check out some of my favorite DJ’s Peterocc, DJ Ry Toast and J*Labs.
The last cool point I’ll call out about SoundCloud is their comments system. Tracks are presented in a waveform so you can make comments on the entire track or a particular segment in the mix itself. For example, I thought it was incredibly cool for J*Labs to mix the theme song from The A-Team into one of her tracks, June Choons. (Quick side note, this is my favorite A-Team mashup!) I was already doing “desk dancing” while at work and I almost lost it when that sample started to play. It’s at 18:45 in the song if you’re curious, but start at 18:15 to get the groove going.
Like with all things social, SoundCloud has mobile apps for your smartphone apps for both iPhone and Android but I’ve not given them a dabble just yet. To some extent, I’m still on my road to discovery about SoundCloud and I’m in no rush to discover everything. I’m perfectly content to click “download” for the time being and let the music take me away.
I don’t know much about the DJ process aside from what I’ve seen on TV, clubs or the Master of the Mix show. I imagine it being a great deal of work and taking creative energy to make one song easily transition into another. I hope we can add more DJ’s to our Creative Professionals Program along with DJ Jam and Steve Aoki as I would love to get a behind-the-scenes look at each one delves into the creative process. But until then, get over to SoundCloud and let the music move you.
Got a favorite music mix you’d like to share? Leave it in comments below or find us on Twitter @Seagate_Con.
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How Seagate is Freely “Sharing” Its Appreciation for Music
What 240TB of Music Used to Look Like
Soundcloud has been such an amazing resource for me as a DJ/producer. I blogged a few years back about how powerful a tool “social discovery” can be. I started off following a handful of my favorite producers and DJs, and then I watched to see which tracks they were favoriting and commenting on. That would lead me to new resources and so on. It’s super fun to just spend an afternoon rabbit-tunneling around SC!
Thanks for including me in the post 🙂
I love SoundCloud now! I found it through a friend and I think it’s such a great way to find new music without all the extra crap on other sites. And I like that I can support my friends in their endeavors.
Thanks for the suggestions too, I’m now following Peterocc and J*Labs!
[…] haven’t noticed, but I’ve made note to Seagate’s Creative Professionals Program (CPP) in a post or two recently. I wanted to give some background on what it’s about because it’s something I […]