Soundcloud doomed?

b/General Music Talk publicado por u/Dream of Omnimaga August 27, 2015, 12:30:18 PM

Soundcloud doomed?

I am unsure, but with what recently happened to Grooveshark and the financial troubles and legal battles that SoundCloud have been into for a year, I am wondering if the site will simply shut down completely anytime soon? If you google, there are articles talking about their financial troubles and legal stuff and it doesn't look very good.

If Soundcloud ceases operations, this could be bad for indie music artists since many used that platform to showcase their work. On the other hand, perhaps this would give Youtube and Bandcamp artists their traffic back? Anyway, everyone would be losing if Soundcloud closed down IMHO.

Someone should tell @matrefeytontias and @pimathbrainiac to back up their SoundCloud uploads, in case.

http://www.youredm.com/2015/06/23/soundcloud-is-about-to-be-hit-with-copyright-infringement-lawsuits/
http://www.musictimes.com/articles/43992/20150726/soundcloud-financial-trouble-major-label-deals-loom.htm

And they apparently loses money every year (and more and more actually)

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u/Yuki August 27, 2015, 01:06:27 PM

That's what happens mostly everytime.

1. Open swag new service for music/video creators
2. Idiots uploads copyrighted music en masse, even if asked not to
3. Optionally attempt to block those idiots, fail at it
4. Lose money for some reason (hosting this much data is ridiculously expensive after all)
5. Get sued by the major music labels, even though you did everything in your power to block those idiots, and it's not even your fault anyway
6. Try to resist, but somehow fail because, remind you, you have no money
7. Get bankrupt and close
8. If you're lucky, at the last minute, get bought by one of the big companies who can actually stand a chance against the labels, have the technology to block the idiots, or even already have a deal with the labels, such as Google and Microsoft.

Even Youtube was in the same situation, before they were lucky enough to get bought by Google.

Last Edit: August 27, 2015, 01:31:42 PM by Juju

u/novenary August 27, 2015, 01:29:24 PM

That's pretty much it. I don't use soundcloud myself but it would kinda suck if it went down. Also I'm pretty sure matref and pi have backups, it'd be stupid to upload stuff somewhere then delete it lol.

u/utz August 27, 2015, 02:09:27 PM

Oh, that'd be awful it they'd close down. However, I believe the situation isn't that dramatic. The thing is that Soundcloud is a German company, and they would have to be sued in a German court. Such a case would be less likely to succeed there. And more importantly, even if successful, it would be far, far less profitable for the major label mafia than in the US. So, it would hardly mean the end for Soundcloud.

As far as Soundcloud's financial troubles go, I think they will inevitably sell out to a big company at some point in the not-too-distant future. And unfortunately that company is likely to be Facebook, with whom Soundcloud has long-standing associations.

Last Edit: August 27, 2015, 02:14:15 PM by utz

u/Dream of Omnimaga August 27, 2015, 03:10:11 PM

If Facebook or something ever purchases SoundCloud, I bet users will still lose because I think they'll just turn the service into Spotify competitor and make everyone pay to keep their music online instead of making it so we can choose between limited free and full premium services.

u/Yuki August 27, 2015, 03:31:28 PM

Remember when Yahoo! bought Tumblr (which was pretty much yet another similar story)? Everyone freaked out and thought Yahoo! would take over, but the staff kept reassuring them they remained independent(ish) and it was pretty much Yahoo! saving them from bankruptcy. Eventually there was some slightly unobtrusive ads and other weird stuff powered by Yahoo!, but stuff stayed mostly the same. Hope this happens with Soundcloud, even if the big company is Facebook. I mean, I didn't really saw any major WhatsApp integration on Facebook yet (and vice-versa) other than the usual integration they offer to everyone, same for Soundcloud, they would most likely stay the same if bought by Facebook, so what could go wrong? They wouldn't even touch the login system to work with something else (other than the same Facebook login we have here on CodeWalrus and other sites) if everything goes well, just like Tumblr, but unlike Skype.

u/novenary August 27, 2015, 04:45:12 PM

Don't forget Facebook also bought Oculus, and it seems that they didn't do anything to it so far, so that's cool.

u/matrefeytontias August 27, 2015, 05:08:49 PM

On the subject of backups, I don't think anyone with a brain uploads personal creations and then deletes them

and since I (luckily) have one, I do have backups.

u/Dream of Omnimaga August 27, 2015, 05:14:54 PM

Quote from: matrefeytontias on August 27, 2015, 05:08:49 PM
On the subject of backups, I don't think anyone with a brain uploads personal creations and then deletes them and since I (luckily) have one, I do have backups.

Most people lacks a brain, then, right?

Quote from: Juju on August 27, 2015, 03:31:28 PM
Remember when Yahoo! bought Tumblr (which was pretty much yet another similar story)? Everyone freaked out and thought Yahoo! would take over, but the staff kept reassuring them they remained independent(ish) and it was pretty much Yahoo! saving them from bankruptcy. Eventually there was some slightly unobtrusive ads and other weird stuff powered by Yahoo!, but stuff stayed mostly the same. Hope this happens with Soundcloud, even if the big company is Facebook. I mean, I didn't really saw any major WhatsApp integration on Facebook yet (and vice-versa) other than the usual integration they offer to everyone, same for Soundcloud, they would most likely stay the same if bought by Facebook, so what could go wrong? They wouldn't even touch the login system to work with something else (other than the same Facebook login we have here on CodeWalrus and other sites) if everything goes well, just like Tumblr, but unlike Skype.

On the other hand, there were cases where new ownership changed things so much that people didn't like and the company/organization lost ground. Eg Omnimaga (see other thread), Steinberg supermarkets (mismanaged to the point of bankruptcy) and Frappr (shut down entirely)

u/utz August 27, 2015, 07:01:00 PM

Don't get me wrong, I'd be quite disappointed if FB buys them, to put it mildly. I'd prefer having to pay for a subscription. But I guess a sale is inevitable. I mean if I'd be working that hard on a project over the course of several years and then somebody comes along and offers me $770 mil for it, I'd take the money alright

I guess all the drama atm might be ultimately just to lower the price a bit.

Also, ermmm... throatclear myspace throatclear

Last Edit: August 27, 2015, 07:03:35 PM by utz

u/gbl08ma August 27, 2015, 07:16:26 PM

Relevant reading:

http://meshedsociety.com/ads-subscription-model-and-more-with-this-years-transformation-soundcloud-will-have-to-please-everybody/
http://www.factmag.com/2015/08/14/what-the-hell-is-going-on-with-soundcloud/

I'd be really annoyed if SoundCloud were to go the way of Grooveshark, or if a buyer severely altered its current offering. Spotify is good enough for mainstream stuff, but for remixes and more obscure stuff SoundCloud is much better. It also embraces (or embraced) creativity in a way the "label friendly" streaming services like Spotify aren't interested in. And so far I'm yet to see any silly region lockouts on SoundCloud, unlike what happens with YouTube and perhaps other services. Let's hope that doesn't change.

u/TIfanx1999 August 27, 2015, 07:17:16 PM

Maybe Google will buy them.

u/Dream of Omnimaga August 27, 2015, 11:06:01 PM

THe problem with Spotify is that in order to get your music on it, you need to subscribe to some company like CDBaby, Tunecore or Reverbnation to get your music distributed on iTunes, Spotify and stuff, which ranges from $50 per album to a yearly fee of that much per album. This is not viable for independent artists like me, because they end up losing money just for keeping their stuff online.

Bandcamp is a much better alternative IMHO if Soundcloud was to cease its operations. Youtube is also another one.

u/Yuki August 27, 2015, 11:24:56 PM

Quote from: utz on August 27, 2015, 07:01:00 PM
Also, ermmm... throatclear myspace throatclear

That still exists?

Anyway, Soundcloud already works with subscriptions to put your stuff there, the Pro version with unlimited everything is kinda expensive, but still, many people buys it.

Also, for Spotify, even for major label artists it's not viable for them. It's viable for no one, unless you have like billions of listens, but even then you would make even more money with other stuff like CD sales.

u/Dream of Omnimaga August 28, 2015, 01:56:19 AM

YEah Myspace used to be a social network like Facebook, but they refused to evolve until it became too late, while at the same time not keeping up with web standards. Eventually they started losing money then just revamped their site into a music-only site. MySpace can be another alternative for sharing music, but it's not user-friendly, social-network-wise.