I'm making a thesis about music sharing websites..

[boogie]

Good evening to the SP-FAM!

I am making this thesis for my school about music sharing websites, like Soundcloud, Datpiff, Soundclick or even Youtube, MySpace etc., and the purpose of all this is to find out what the people who USE the sites feel/think about them. (BTW thanks to Les Braun/Computers for the idea of making a thesis about music and the idea of asking for help in here)

I've been collecting some answers from different medias (mostly youtube PM's etc.) but I thought I'd throw this topic in here if anyone wants to share some experiences.


So, on to the point;

What music sharing websites do you like to use?

What features of that specific site do you like / don't like?

Is the site easy to use? (even for a total beginner?)

Does the site have a community/large base of users? (on the other hand, is the community even important? I think it is..)


Any help would be greatly appreciated, mostly because I need some 'real' feedback from people who really use the sites.

I'm still writing this thesis in my native language (finnish), but most if not all my 'beat making buddies' are from other countries, so it is/can be a challenge

Thanks & even a few thoughts would be greatly helpful!
(big ups to Green Dutch & Mujo for already providing some feedback via YT)

[melodious]

So, on to the point;

What music sharing websites do you like to use?

What features of that specific site do you like / don't like?

Is the site easy to use? (even for a total beginner?)

Does the site have a community/large base of users? (on the other hand, is the community even important? I think it is..)

1: I use mainly soundcloud but I have a bandcamp.

2: Easy uploads, the new format for soundcloud.

3: Yes it's really easy to use in my opinion.

4: Yes there's so many talented producers that people depend on to release a new track on soundcloud. Bandcamp is usually where people put there albums for people to purchase.

[boogie]

So, on to the point;

What music sharing websites do you like to use?

What features of that specific site do you like / don't like?

Is the site easy to use? (even for a total beginner?)

Does the site have a community/large base of users? (on the other hand, is the community even important? I think it is..)

1: I use mainly soundcloud but I have a bandcamp.

2: Easy uploads, the new format for soundcloud.

3: Yes it's really easy to use in my opinion.

4: Yes there's so many talented producers that people depend on to release a new track on soundcloud. Bandcamp is usually where people put there albums for people to purchase.

woot, thanks for the FAST reply. I will be collecting most of the info I get here later & I will include your nickname only (and the site maybe) in the final thesis. Good start!

[melodious]

woot, thanks for the FAST reply. I will be collecting most of the info I get here later & I will include your nickname only (and the site maybe) in the final thesis. Good start!

No problem!

[hseiken]

What music sharing websites do you like to use?

What features of that specific site do you like / don't like?

Is the site easy to use? (even for a total beginner?)

Does the site have a community/large base of users? (on the other hand, is the community even important? I think it is..)

Thanks & even a few thoughts would be greatly helpful!

1.) Soundcloud, Youtube (neither are used by me much for sharing stuff)
2.) Youtube's video service allows you to share live performance video which often makes possibly something that someone doesn't understand how much work went into a live track realize it's not always just pushing a button and waiting for 3 minutes. The downsides to both are fake followers just looking to spread their own stuff, basically like a door to door salesman. That's what tags are for. You search, the tags pop up what you were looking for. Some assholes don't understand that.
3.) Both sites are about average in difficulty to use. Just like anything unfamiliar, the more experience you have with it, the easier it gets. I've had people ask me questions that are, like, the first step before even getting to the soundcloud/youtube uploading step which is how to get music from your gear into the computer. But we all gotta start at the beginning.
4.) Both SC and YT have massive amounts of users and I'd say too many. Like I said, you got guys being all fake with you because they want you to check their shit too...some guy makes thrashmetal will drop a copy/pasta generic comment "Hey, I liked your production. Give my band a listen!" It's a waste of time. The only real good thing that came out of Soundcloud was permanent music storage for dudes without a lot of dough. YT doesn't really count as it wasn't originally made for that purpose. Either way, soundcloud didn't do anything revolutionary. There was music storage and there were forums. All it did was cash in on two separate things at once. I know a lot of people like it, but my experience has been mostly crap and it's done no more to help 'promote' me than a typical forum has and I'm not going to go pimp myself and lie to people about their tracks or go surfing for random music all day to find something I DO like to comment on just in the off chance that that guy might network with me with a slim possibility it might actually lead to something. I'd rather just say fuck off with all of that. I also don't appreciate how it was originally meant for peers to critique each other's stuff and now it's just FACEBOOK with a radio tacked on.
5.) (Final Thoughts) I suggest to anyone really serious about their work to do what you want. For those who want to 'bust out' or whatever, you still gotta work at it, but that's when pimping yourself out there comes into play and soundcloud makes it easy. However, it also makes it easy to look like a selfish dipshit, so beware of that. Youtube, I could take it or leave it. I think it's more important because you get to see someone actually MAKING the music or showing off techniques, or even just giving others ideas about gear. I think I've gotten more out of youtube videos of performances and tutorial vids than simply listening to audio and I think that right there makes it infinitely more invaluable as a resource for musician.

Peace.

[MattCoops]

As far as music "sharing" sites on the internet, it really killed artists' profits, but at the same time boosted the hell out of promotion.
Way before Youtube, there were actual music sharing sites, like Napster, and later, Limewire, that opened the door to music piracy and really killed the purchasing aspect of music. Digital MP3 files made music a commodity rather than a tangible good.
Youtube spawned a massive music audience as far as promotion and finding new music. Record labels can promote artists by streaming video for free. And even the local DIY garage band can gain a worldwide following using the medium. It became the hub for visual media in music. So much that MTV doesn't even play music videos anymore.
Soundcloud allowed ease of sharing music as a playable widget to be pasted into forum/blog posts. But as hseiken hit on already, the spam comments from the community is an annoyance.

[Unfolding]

.

[boogie]

Thanks hseiken, MattCoops and Unfolding (via pm) for sharing your thoughts already!
Good pointers all around. I remember Napster from way back but never really used it. I think I had Kazaa or something lol

[Chopperman]

I love SoundCloud, the old version more than the new. It does seem revolutionary to me but that's probably mainly because its where I started making my music public. The dashboard feature is where its at for me. Its not hard to find good musicians to follow in my opinion (find one good musician, check their "favorites" and go from there) and once you are following a bunch of musicians that you like, your dashboard becomes a flowing source of new music. There's nothing like hearing a song that you love and letting the creator know you love it, then hearing that they dig your music as well. Sure, sometimes they may be full of shit, but sometimes they aren't.

[Chopperman]

..It is a shame that so few people support musicians financially these days but you gotta take the bad with the good. I know people who seem proud that they never buy albums. FUCK THAT. I'm very proud to have supported my favorite artists over the years.

[human]

Youtube is great for sharing. Every once in a while I’ll get on my email & there will be like 20 messages from youtube saying so-and-so subscribed to your channel. That’s when you know someone embedded your video on their website or something. It’s a great site because it’s big enough to support the most watched videos on the internet, yet also small enough to host the most trivial videos out there (and sometimes those are two in the same ).

[boogie]

Appreciate the help human & Chopperman

[kel]

I don't leave a lot of feedback on soundcloud because I'll just end up saying "this is dope" or something similar. Maybe it's better for me to 'like' tracks. It's funny how 99% of comments on there are positive. Kind of a trip that everybody has direct access to everyone else, but it seems like the more power I have to communicate directly, the less inclined I am to do it. I guess I was born too early... if I were to receive a hand-written letter that says "this is dope" it would mean a lot more that a quick text. But I guess that's absurd, living in the past. There's a sense of anticipation I can't quite put my finger on that the internet threw away: kind of like when you used to go buy CDs, just based on a video you saw, dropped like 12 bucks and you were never sure if you'd like the rest... People can't imagine leaving the house without their phones, but before we had the technology we had our shit together enough that we didn't constantly need to run to the payphone every ten seconds. You can preview all music now, and you don't even have to buy anything. It's a strange feeling to enjoy having the world at my disposal while being repulsed at the convenience of it at the same time. Do I sound like a grumpy old man or what?

[kel]

Just wanna say though, I listen to a TON of music on here and soundcloud, and just because I don't comment doesn't mean I'm not listening.

[CHICKADEE]

I don't leave a lot of feedback on soundcloud because I'll just end up saying "this is dope" or something similar. Maybe it's better for me to 'like' tracks. It's funny how 99% of comments on there are positive. Kind of a trip that everybody has direct access to everyone else, but it seems like the more power I have to communicate directly, the less inclined I am to do it.

Totaly agree, i leave a lot of comments personnaly and i'd like people just doesn't say "dope" (even if i let some "dope shit" hahaha) but say what do they like, dislike (even if i (or people)dislike and put it on a comment , i'm (or people are) not necessarily a "hater" --') or give some advices/tips.

@boogie:

1/ I use mainly soundcloud, and bandcamp to put my tapes.
Two are easy to use, i know the soundcloud community is big (i think it's the best for hiphop/beat/instrumental) , it's easy to communicate with the artists and the soundwave concept is dope and as many persons i prefere the old version and i'm always on it.
And one other thing, i found people who are not producers are not so much on soundcloud (in France and i think in the world), i'd like a democratization of this site where people create their soundcloud not perforce to publish music but just to favorite,comment the tracks and create a playlist.