Online streaming services aren't new. There are innumerable ways to stream audio and music online, but SoundCloud has some advantages over the competition.
Founded in Berlin in 2007, SoundCloud has since expanded to an
extensive app that encompasses a streaming service, a distribution
platform and an online community. For musicians, it’s a great way to
upload original music to share with your fans. For fans, it’s easy to
keep tabs on your favorite artists and stream on continuous play. And
increasingly more for other types of media, SoundCloud provides a way to
stream embeddable audio pieces for news and sports media outlets.
There are three subscription levels
to choose from with SoundCloud. With a free account, you are limited to
120 minutes of uploaded audio and can only see some of your stats. You
can get more upload hours by paying for a Pro or Pro Unlimited account,
which also come with more extensive analytics, as well as a Quiet Mode
feature to hide comments and stats on your tracks.
Once you decide what’s best for you, getting started with SoundCloud
is simple. Check out some of the best and most useful SoundCloud
features below in our beginner’s guide.
Signing Up
Signing up for a SoundCloud account allows you to take full advantage
of all of SoundCloud’s features, including customization and
personalized statistics.
You can sign up through your Facebook or Google account, or just use your email address. Simply click on the “Sign up” button on the homepage.
Setting Up Your Profile
If you’re a musician, this is a crucial step to branding yourself.
Click on the profile icon on the top navigation bar, and then click
“Edit.” You can add links to your website, Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, Songkick, Tumblr and more, and SoundCloud will directly link to them on your profile.
Uploading Tracks
Once your profile is all set, upload your songs by clicking "Upload"
next to your avatar in the top navigation bar. With a free account, you
can upload up to 120 minutes-worth of sounds.
Once you upload a song, verify the title, add a description and label
your sound with tags to make it easily findable. Perhaps more
importantly, you can add a buy link. Click on “More options” right above
the “Save” button before you upload your track. Within these new
options, you can paste a buy link into the given field and adjust the
licensing and accessibility of your track.
Making a Playlist
Whether you're organizing your own songs into an album or making a
compilation of other songs, it's easy to make a playlist in SoundCloud.
Hover over a track and select the “Add to playlist” button to create a
playlist and add your track.
Once you've made a list, head over to your profile page so you can
edit the playlist. To edit, click on the playlist to go to its own page,
then click on the pencil icon right beneath the waveform.
Now you can drag and drop the songs in your playlist to reorder them.
You can also change the name of the playlist, change the permalink, add
an image and edit tags. Fill in a description, which is HTML-capable,
so you can, for example, drop in links to sites where users can purchase
concert tickets.
Once you're finished, you can listen to your playlist on continuous
play without commercial breaks. SoundCloud also puts all of your songs
into one waveform, and you can easily embed the entire playlist as one
entity.
Sharing and Downloading Sounds
Did you hear a track you like? Click the "Share" button to link it
out via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, Pinterest or email. If you
just need the SoundCloud link, you can even specify a start time.
The most useful sharing tool in SoundCloud, however, is the embed
code. Simply copy and paste the HTML into your own post and you will
have an embedded mini player.
You can also customize your player to change its color and size by
clicking on the pencil icon next to the embed code. If you're working
specifically with WordPress, there is a unique SoundCloud shortcode for
each track to make embedding easy.
Certain artists will also make their sounds downloadable. Simply
click the download icon below the waveform to download the track.
Exploring
Similar to other music services, SoundCloud allows you to stream your
songs in the background while you change between different interfaces.
This is a great feature, especially while you’re browsing through
different tracks with the explore function. Just click on “Explore” on the left side of the top navigation bar.
The page aggregates tracks that are popular at the moment within the
SoundCloud community. You can browse not only by musical genres (which
aren’t extremely extensive), but you can also browse other media, such
as newscasts and excerpts from audiobooks.
Following Other Users
Perhaps one of the best features of SoundCloud is its social
network-like model. You can keep tabs on your favorite artists, record
labels and news outlets as their posts fill your stream, just as a
Twitter or Facebook feed would.
Once you've found posts that interest you, just click the “Follow”
button on the user’s profile and you’ll see every track they post in
your stream.
Social Networking and Interacting With Other Users
Now that you have a solid list of users in your stream, you can
“like” tracks just as you would like a post on Facebook. You can also
“repost” tracks, similar to a retweet on Twitter.
Another cool feature in SoundCloud is the ability to comment on a
certain point in a track. Do you love the killer drum fill in the bridge
of a song? Let the artist know by adding a comment at that exact point
in the track.
Click in the “Write a comment” field under the waveform of a song.
Your avatar will appear in the lower third of the waveform, which is
greyed out for comments. Move your avatar to the point in the song on
which you want to comment, type a note and then hit Enter. The comments
will pop up as the song plays through so that a user can read them while
those points in the track play.
Tracking Analytics
Easily track the play counts, downloads and interactions of your
sounds via SoundCloud’s analytics. Click on the drop-down arrow next to
your avatar in the top navigation bar and select Stats.
With a free account, you can see the number of plays you have on all
your sounds, the number of downloads, the number of likes and the number
of comments. There are also percent changes for each metric so you can
gauge your tracks.
If you’re looking for more in-depth analytics, sign up for a Pro
account to get referral sources and demographics of your audience.
Joining Groups
Groups are a handy way to stay in touch with an organization or stay
on top of new artists within a certain genre. You can search for groups
by clicking on the drop-down arrow next to your avatar in the top
navigation bar and selecting “Groups,” or you can create your own.
Utilizing Apps
The apps
page on SoundCloud provides an extensive directory of apps that work in
conjunction with the service. From music production apps like Ableton
to social sharing apps like Tumblr and IFTTT, you can get them straight from SoundCloud’s directory.
The recent addition of Instagram to SoundCloud allows you to upload pictures from your Instagram feed to use as playlist or album covers.
To do this, hover over the cover of your playlist or track and click
on “Choose new image.” Connect your Instagram account with the button on
the lower left to use your own original images for album art.
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