Is Soundcloud a good service that I should pay for if I have the money ?

Just asking what everyone thinks of the platform. I rarely listen to music, but it seems like spotify but community edition.
There are paid features but I don't seem to need them (Desktop only user), no DRM protection so I can download if I want, site is not heavy on my humble resources.

This post is just asking if Soundcloud is something I should talk positively about. Moral compass in the high seas.

19 comments

I've never used Bandcamp, but that is like the only place I would consider giving money to. On Friday's all profits go directly to the creators themselves, and you own the music. Idk if they use DRM, but they have several audio/encoding options.
Like others said, if you're gonna pirate, then pirate, but if you do wanna give people money then Bandcamp is best. Especially since you're not streaming music when pirating (or at least not from a public service)
- Its only a few Fridays each year when bandcamp doesnt take their cut, but I try to only buy albums there on those days.
  
  If you're using something like Bandcamp, the artists are already getting thousands of times the money you are giving them from listening on Spotify, I think it's good enough. Even iTunes is thousands of times better.
- There’s no drm on band camp
  
  Bingo. I bought an album on Bandcamp and dropped it right into my Plex server.
As far as a moral compass goes, I wouldn't give any money to SoundCloud. Much like YouTube, anyone can create an account and upload music. Obviously if you upload popular copyrighted music, it will likely get taken down quickly. But the less popular it is, the more likely it'll go under the radar if someone uploads music that isn't theirs. If you don't pay for premium, then that music will have ads playing between tracks. The creator of the music won't see any money from it, I doubt the uploader would either. As it currently stands, SoundCloud profits from stolen music. Personally I feel better pirating music than I would paying for a SoundCloud premium. I honestly don't understand how GrooveShark got shut down back in the day, yet SoundCloud got to keep running. They are damn near the same exact service.
- On a side note, I love your show. I'm a huge fan.
  
  For your music!
- hmm, makes sense. I guess I'll keep using it with adblocker then. Felt kinda guilty cuz it has been handy for me for years whenever I think about music. Also was curious what the general consensus looks like. Like what the music community and artists think
If you like electronic music SoundCloud has the most dj sets out there imo
- I agree but mixcloud isn't far behind it I don't reckon. Especially as they used to have unlimited free uploads. I have 60 or more mixes on there myself and I'm just a bedroom DJ
- I actually was looking to download this (which I heard in a video from bilibili) and stumbled upon it here: https://soundcloud.com/ball-hakurei/vocal-eastnewsound-1st
  found it on spotify too, but couldn't download.
  Eventually I've found higher quality here (9th in the list): https://downloads.khinsider.com/game-soundtracks/album/hiirogekka-kyoushou-no-zetsu-10th-anniversary-2017
SoundCloud is pretty cool, especially when compared to Spotify. I've been really liking the https://sc.maid.zone/ SoundCloud frontend recently, makes it more private and you can download the songs on the same page you can listen to them. But all in all, it really just comes down to your opinion regarding if you should talk positively about it.
- Shame it is only 128 MP3s, I'm guessing that is what the audio is streamed at.
- But all in all, it really just comes down to your opinion regarding if you should talk positively about it.
  I'm happy it is like this atleast.
  some people find twitter happy, but honestly I'd punish them with harsh words for praising it. I also find Youtube handy and helpful, but I would never talk positively about it.
  EDIT: thanks for the frontend, bookmarked!
I mean...why? you said yourself there's paid stuff that you're not going to use so just use soulseek if you're going to be downloading anyways.
I dont' use any music streaming service because the artists get paid peanuts and won't see my dime when I use them. so i'll support them more directly. Take your money, buy your favourite artists shirt or other merch.

19 comments