SoundCloud: Sharing is Caring

Creativity. Music. Digital media. Mash this all together and you get something like...SoundCloud. A digital platform which allows users to upload and share their own songs, recordings or podcasts, making it accessible to anyone who would be interested. As an example, I have included one of my personal favorites, which is a remix of Foreigner's Cold as Ice by A.Skillz.



It seems only natural for a platform like SoundCloud to exist. It started off as a website designed for musicians who wanted a fast and easy way to exchange recordings and ideas. Considering that sharing content is the epicenter of social media, it is not surprising that SoundCloud became so successful, with over ten million registered users to this date. The founding team even created a Storywheel to mark the occasion, which you can find here.

According to the two founders, Alex Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, they started with a humble mission - to give musicians the opportunity to share recordings with one another faster than before (Buskirk, 2009). Their success is mainly attributed to the fact that, unlike MySpace, content uploaded to SoundCloud can also be shared on other forms of social media.

There are many reasons why using SoundCloud  is a good idea. For smaller artists and musicians, the platforms provides a chance for them to make themselves known on social media and gain popularity. By sharing their sounds and projects, they can receive support, feedback and even recognition that can kickstart a serious career. For the established artists, it is a way of maintaining their image and actively engaging their audience by sharing exclusive content or remixes of their original work.

I find the notion of sharing to be crucial for creativity. The exchange of ideas and resources makes musical experimentation broader, braver and better than ever before. However, users do not use SoundCloud only to be creative. The platform has also become an outlet for political activists and has as a result been banned from servers in Turkey. The reason behind such a move is a recording of Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan being uploaded onto the platform. The recording shows how he has accepted bribes that would allow illegal construction plans to take place (Arango, 2014).

Sources:
ARANGO, T., YEGINSU, C., 2014, Amid Flow of Leaks, Turkey moves to Crimp Internet, [online] Available at: here. [Accessed 10 April 2014]

BUSKIRK, E., 2009, SoundCloud Threatens MySpace as Music Destination for Twitter Era, [online] Available at: here. [Accessed 10 April 2014]