New SoundCloud visitors can see clearly now
- Sound sharing service SoundCloud gets a redesign
- Easier to find, listen to and share sounds
- New mobile apps due Dec. 6
SoundCloud aims to clear away any haze that might confuse listeners.
After nearly five years in operation, the social audio-sharing site gets a makeover today. Updates to the Android and iOS apps arrive on Dec. 6.
SoundCloud began as a site for music and sound professionals to exchange music. But as it evolved, musicians began previewing tracks for listeners and podcasters used the site to expand their audience.
This new design makes it easier to navigate the vast library of content and share it with others. A new Explore page provides music and audio suggestions for users to check out. And listeners can hear a continuous stream of the sounds they have selected as they explore more of the platform.
"It's about making it very easy to discover new and original sounds," says SoundCloud co-founder and CEO Alexander Ljung. "If you are a new user and just want to find something to listen to, we make that really easy."
Unlike consumer-targeted music destinations such as Pandora, Spotify and MOG, SoundCloud began with the sound-creator in mind. Ljung co-founded the site in 2008 with Eric Wahlforss to share music they were creating.
"There just wasn't anything like that on the Internet," he says. "We saw similar things for images and videos through Flickr and YouTube, but our forum was sound, and we just didn't have those cool platforms."
After Ljung and Wahlforss launched the Berlin-based service, the creative community responded. The majority of audio streams come from lesser-known sources, but Taylor Swift, rapper Big Boi, Radiohead and Drive-By Truckers have SoundCloud channels, as do the BBC and CBS News. The White House posts President Obama's speeches and radio addresses and audio from first lady Michelle Obama's events.
"It has everything from the White House to musical artists like the Deftones, (New York City) Mayor (Michael) Bloomberg and my cousin, Ian, who records his kids," Ljung says. "It really is such a diverse range of creators."
As the size of the collection has grown, so has the audience. About 180 million worldwide use the site monthly. The sheer volume of uploaded content became intimidating and unwieldy to newcomers, so a "reimagined" SoundCloud was needed, Ljung says.
Testing of the "Next SoundCloud" began about six months ago. Ljung will announce the launch of the site makeover at the LeWeb tech conference today in Paris.
An improved Facebook sign-in process identifies your music and audio likes and immediately finds them on SoundCloud so you can start following. And SoundCloud listeners can easily create and share their own sets — compilations of various music and audio offerings — that they have discovered on the site.
These changes will help SoundCloud evolve into a more profitable business, says Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures, a New York-based venture-capital firm with investments in the company. SoundCloud already makes money from a premium service, for which creators pay $40 to $600 a year, he says.
But the biggest growth is in listeners, Wilson says, so a subscription or advertising-based business model is imminent. "This is all about making the experience for the listener a better experience than it has been."