Hi
everyone! I am excited to start this marketing blog, and because it is my first
post I would like to introduce myself a little bit first. My name is Parker
Edington and I am currently 20 years old. I am a sophomore at Saint Michael’s
College and I am a business administration major, and an accounting minor. In
my free time I enjoy skiing, skateboarding, and listening to music.
As I just
mentioned, I am a big fan of listening to music, particularly hip-hop and rap.
And one of the main platforms I use to find and listen to music is a website
called SoundCloud. SoundCloud is a fairly new music platform, having started in
October of 2008. I didn’t start using SoundCloud until around 2013 I would
guess, and back then it was pretty unknown and not a great platform. However,
in the past couple years SoundCloud has made drastic improvements and is now
one of the most popular places where you can listen to music!
The reason
I was drawn to SoundCloud originally was because it felt like a social media
outlet, similar to Facebook. When you make a SoundCloud account, you can follow
famous artists and music groups who also have accounts, as well as your friends
and people with similar music interests. From there it is easy to find music
that you may like but haven’t heard before. Another reason I was drawn to
joining SoundCloud was because it was free! There is no cost for signing up
unlike other outlets such as Spotify or Apple Music.
When I
first joined SoundCloud, there were a few things I didn’t like about it. First
of all, the mobile app was absolutely awful. It would frequently crash and the
layout was awkward and not user friendly. Another thing I did not like about
SoundCloud was how there not many songs were available, and songs that were
available sometimes got quickly deleted due to copyright infringements. Despite
these flaws, I continued to use SoundCloud and today the owners of SoundCloud
have made incredible improvements.
Since I
started using SoundCloud a few years ago, the owners have made several
improvements. The mobile app is now very successful, and this now allows users
to listen to music more easily anywhere they go. Also, since March 26, 2016
SoundCloud users now have the option of upgrading to SoundCloud Go. SoundCloud
Go which costs 10$ per month allows users to listen to ad-free music, as well
as access to more songs that were protected by copyright because now famous
artists can market and sell there music on this website.
An
extremely important feature that I have not touched on yet is how users can
upload their own music, or any audio if they choose to. Music is a massive
business and it is pretty hard for young, aspiring musicians to gain publicity.
But SoundCloud allows users to easily upload 180 minutes of audio for free! It
is a great place for music entrepreneurs to start putting their songs out for
anybody to see, and in my opinion it is more affective and easier to use than
YouTube. SoundCloud has created more advanced accounts for “uploaders” who
passed 180 minutes of free uploads. SoundCloud Pro costs 7$ a month, or 63$ per
year for 6 hours of audio, and SoundCloud Pro Unlimited costs 15$ a month, or
135$ per year for unlimited audio uploads. By having these yearly discounts,
SoundCloud is promoting users to become long-time, consistent customers. Also,
having three uploading options targets a larger market of people who upload
various amounts.
Recently,
there was a big announcement for SoundCloud. Songs on SoundCloud are extremely likely to be available for Grammy nominations in 2018! I think this is incredible for a
platform that just started in 2008. This gives SoundCloud an enormous promotional
opportunity to get more people aware of their platform. Not only that, but any
user, famous or unknown, has a chance for one of their songs or albums to blow
up and be seen on the Grammys.
To
summarize, SoundCloud is one of the most diverse, and useful platforms for
music for both the artist and the consumer. Because SoundCloud has a free
option, and a few options that cost money, it creates a large market for users
who have different needs. Also, SoundCloud’s social-media-like layout allows
users to find, and share music easier than alternative platforms. And lastly,
SoundCloud allows any user to upload their music for free. Users can also share
songs that they upload on SoundCloud to Facebook and Twitter, and this allows
users to promote and market their own material.
Works Cited
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-soundcloud-launches-subscription-service-20160328-story.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundCloud#cite_note-lat-scgo-27
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