Before it was producing rap-stars, SoundCloud was and still is a place to find and share obscure, non-mainstream music.

SoundCloud was founded by sound designer and artists, Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss in 2007. They claimed to have created SoundCloud due to the lack of audio sharing platforms on the internet.

By 2009, SoundCloud reached over 1 million users and had become the dominant music sharing platform on the internet.

Soundcloud offers many unique features that most likely aided with its success.

Here are some examples

• One of the signature features of SoundCloud is the ‘waveform’ audio player(Seen Below). Users can comment on specific points of the waveform, so when that point of the song is reached, the comment appears.

 

• SoundCloud is free to register, but also provides paid premium accounts. For example, SoundCloud offers “Pro” “Pro Unlimited” and “Go” accounts. Each has different perks.
• Free users have much more extensive freedom compared to other music platforms. Free users can easily upload 3 hours worth of audio content to their profile, and Pro users can upload 6 hours. Pro Unlimited users can upload unlimited content.
• SoundCloud has been released for both Apple and Android mobile devices, allowing users to access their profiles anywhere.

  

 

In Recent Years…

With the rise of numerous music streaming services such as Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, etc., SoundCloud’s lifespan seems like it would have been shortened. And there have been talks as recent as 2017 about SoundCloud closing it’s doors. However, there has been a plethora of up and coming rappers who have entered the mainstream after starting on SoundCloud and have even reached the Top 50s on the charts.

For example, these rappers who have gained large followings made their start on SoundCloud.

• Post Malone
• XXXTentacion
• Chance The Rapper
• Lil Peep
• And Many More…

With such accessible recording technology, as well as SoundCloud’s ease of uploading, people all over the world can share their homemade music.

The rise of popularity of these rappers has not only brought in new SoundCloud listeners but new SoundCloud uploaders, who hope to gain fame, similar to those who have already made it through the platform.

SoundCloud has gone through its ups and downs over the years and still continues to try and find its place among the numerous music streaming services. However, with the rise of the “SoundCloud Rapper” SoundCloud may have inadvertently found its place, as an incubator of sorts for up and coming rappers.

My SoundCloud Experience

SoundCloud is a platform I have used before, but don’t use often. I can understand why it is the most popular sound-sharing platform. It has an easy to grasp interface and a competent search engine.

I took a look at the uploading process and it truly is as simple as it can be. You don’t need to know too much to simply upload, aside from your file type.

I use services like Spotify more often because I prefer it’s relatively simple interface and the ability they give the user to curate their own playlists, and as many of them as they want. SoundCloud simply doesn’t fit my needs as an audio listener.

However, in some alternate reality where I had music of my own I wanted to upload, SoundCloud would be my first stop.