Empty SoundCloud Theory (continued)

[u/pgreyy]

I needed to add "flair" to post this--I'm not really angry. I'm just disappointed.

I shouldn't care about metrics, because there aren't any actual listeners left on SoundCloud--just hoaxes, scammers, and hustlers (and no shame to the hustlers--if I had a reason to buy art from someone, I'm sure the people that only message me to sell me their designs are all capable and deserving.)

...but--and this should come as no surprise to other creators in this subreddit--I'd grown accustomed to the juiced up "ArtistPro Discovery" (or whatever that "amplify" program is called) numbers. It is nice when every track you post on SoundCloud gets shown to have received over 100 listens. It can pretend that people are paying attention.

Except occasionally, a track will get done dirty by the algorithm. I feel bad for that track, so I ask people checking out other tracks of mine to listen to that other one that didn't get to 100 listens. And, for almost all of this year...that's worked. Only a handful of tracks haven't at least gotten to 100 listens.

...until this week.

Despite amplifying each track, five of the seven tracks I've posted (I post one track a day--and no, I don't use prompt-based generative AI...I'm just retired and have tons of time on my hands.) haven't gotten CLOSE to 100 listens.

Again--I know none of my tracks are getting 100 listens...but I miss when it said they ALL did.

("Make better music"--yeah, I'm trying--but quality doesn't matter when it comes to listens. If someone liked it or not, it still counts as a listen if they hit play. You could post the modern equivalent to Bohemian Rhapsody, but that doesn't mean it'd get any more listens than any other track (unless you're a known artist, of course...) )

I'm not looking for solutions (unless someone has one, of course.) Just needed to complain to people that'd understand...and as this topic has been shared here plenty of times before, I'm assuming y'all can!

In case you're curious, look up the artist name Interbay (but that's not why I'm posting. Besides, there's no real people listening to songs on SoundCloud, that includes "us" right? ;) )

[u/ilikebigbuteos]

It’s so weird that I see posts like this on this subreddit all the time. I love SoundCloud in all its janky underground functionality, I’ve been using it as my main music subscription for over 10 years and I’m an avid listener. I find great new music on there all the time. I’m not an artist and it sucks to hear that it’s not working well for many artists, but I feel like this sub is extremely negative and a little bit out of touch. There might not be Spotify numbers, but there are definitely listeners on SoundCloud. 

If you’re not getting a lot of listeners, maybe make some playlists that include your music and other music with a similar vibe. Playlists are often how I find new music. I mostly listen to EDM, disco house, trap, etc. which I think does pretty well on SoundCloud. I get the impression that their algorithms are less refined for some other genres like indie, classical, and jazz. But if you make playlists, maybe this will get better. 

Thanks for adding your art to the world and don’t get discouraged by some metrics that you have no control over. If you are having a good time than I  sure your art is good <3

[u/pgreyy → u/ilikebigbuteos]

I'm glad you exist. :)

...but, there is an oversupply problem in music at the moment--there's more of us making it than there are people like you looking for it. (This is not helped by prompt-based generative AI, of course.)

But still, music gets posted to SoundCloud in hopes that someone might find it. And if you see that someone has sent you a message, you get excited. And you read the message and it seems positive about your music. And you reply...and then it all falls apart--because NONE OF THOSE PEOPLE ARE REAL.

They're hustling to sell you things. Or they're just outright scamming you. There's at least a dozen people claiming to be Elon Musk shopping for music talent? There's even more people supposedly employed at record companies that aren't.

Sometimes, you get a couple of back and forth comments and you think "FINALLY! A REAL PERSON!"

Then, the penny drops and they're just hooking you into buying their graphic design or they'd like it if you paid them to dance to your music or they're just luring you into some phishing scenario.

BUT, if you pay for ArtistsPro, you get the opportunity to participate in a program that supposedly analyzes your music and specifically pushes it to people determined to be into the type of music you make. It is designed to get your music to at least 100 people more than you'd normally get.

And as people explain--these 100 people aren't THAT precisely dialed in...and nearly every single one of them ends up being part of bot farms in a far off land...and they're not interested in you or your music.

...but, your "listens" numbers do go up. It's artificial and illusionary, but as you get so little real person feedback...you cling to it as proof of your capabilities. It makes you think you should keep doing the things you're doing.

...and then suddenly, for no reason...the bottom drops out...and the program suddenly stops adding "listens" to your tracks, for no apparent reason. And suddenly, the thing you've been clinging to isn't there...

It's a gut punch. It shouldn't be, but it still is...

(And, for the record: Interbay posts a track to SoundCloud every single day. Most of it could be considered straddling various EDM genres (my neurodivergent need for novelty and growing up having eclectic music tastes means putting everything into a blender and hitting "puree".) but there's also some alt rock, 80s sounding stuff, triphop, ambient, indie, r&b, trap, soul, and occasionally some jazz. I'm sure I'll do some americana eventually. ;) BUT--genre has NO IMPACT* on listen counts. Quality has NO IMPACT on listen counts. That's because those counts aren't real.)

*Caveat--if I put "Triphop" in as a tag, that track is almost guaranteed to underperform. Bot farms HATE Triphop! ;)

To spin this positively--I hope some day to earn some listens from you bigbutteos. Since you exist, I have a brand new goal...hopefully, an Interbay track might cross your path someday. :)

[u/ilikebigbuteos → u/pgreyy]

There are for sure too many bots on SoundCloud and on Reddit and probably everywhere worthwhile on the internet. Little pests. 

I am listening to your music. It’s very impressive to put out a new song every day! I can see that you’re doing something more experimental/ synth/ 80s new wave/ jazz inspired stuff. It’s very cool and creative. 

Im curious, have you considered how your music is received out in the world once it leaves tour production desk? Do you want people to listen to your music while they are driving ? or while they are dancing or in the background of a social setting? Based on my brief perusal, it seems like you have a particular story that you are interested in telling, and that you want someone to listen. I think that’s a harder goal to find an audience for than more simple pursuits like dance/chill. It may be that most people seeking music nowadays are looking for an outlet for an emotion or an escape from their deep thoughts rather than a curiosity for others’. Not to say that you should cater toward meaningless good vibes only bs, that’s clearly not your style. I guess I’m just asking if you consider how people will sit and listen to you. Who do you want to listen to you? Where are they, what are they doing? I offer you this thought exercise as hopefully a bit of inspiration. 

The smattering of songs I’ve listened to have explored a lot of unusual time signatures and key changes, vibes are generally all over the place, often scary or deep and thoughtful or hardcore/angry. The songs that you make that are more curious or fun or adventurous are my favorites personally. 

Anyway I hope this unsolicited feedback finds you well. Back to my quest for endless open skies 🌌🦅

[u/pgreyy → u/ilikebigbuteos]

Great questions and astute analysis. You are a gem!

I do NOT consider how the music I make might be digested by potential listeners, or how my music might fit into someone's lifestyle, or if my dance-centric tracks would be easy for dj's to program into their set, or if my song lengths would fit into a radio programmer's plans.

I could do all of that. I have those skills...and the knowledge and experience as a 20+ year nightclub dj, as a former commercial radio station music programmer, as a marketer, as a manager of an independent record store--my life history clued me in to all of that...as being vital for commercial viability.

I'm not looking for commercial viability. Not to sound too much like an annoying poseur, but I make music to express myself in a creative way. I am very true to my muse--and to my neurodivergent brain.

...but I can point to plenty of other real world artists that do similar things. (I'm trying to say...I'm not Frank Zappa--my instincts are pop based...but mutant pop. Pop that doesn't fit into easily labeled boxes.)

There may not be a market for Interbay. I can't give my tracks away, I don't expect people to pay for them. But I like them. I don't think I'm the only person who could, either. But I'm not expecting to become popular to a mass audience...unless I do something really stupid that goes viral. That can happen to anybody for anything.

...I'm not counting on it.

BUT, again...none of that matters to my complaints about SoundCloud being full of bots, hoaxers, scammers, and hustlers...and that recently, a program offered to me that had been guaranteeing me at least 100+ listens for every single track I make suddenly, without any known reason, started topping out around 60.

And, again, "listens" have nothing to do with "quality." It just has to be tagged properly and look interesting...someone just has to hit play. Once they decide if they like it or not, the listen has already been registered.

I do my best to tag tracks properly...and, I do think that Interbay music is, at least, interesting.

And my lengthy descriptions are designed to help to sell a sense of deep lore. The tracks themselves are filled with references and Easter Eggs (like a musical MST3K for the really nerdy.) It rewards following along...

...in theory. In practice? (shrug emoji goes here ;) )

PS--You may be amused to learn this...but no Interbay track has a time signature other than 4/4. If it felt like my tracks change time signatures or lurch from one to another...maybe I AM Frank Zappa! ;)

PPS--Seriously, though...I appreciate you listening to some of the avalanche of content I'm pouring outt...and taking it seriously. You've got credit in my book!

[u/Internal_Display_313]

I prefer to look at likers or followers and then see who they follow. And do the same for any top listener or liker.

If it's a well curated list of people I recognise from my genres I feel I have done well because that looks like someone who's spending thought on following quality.

[u/peekaboof → u/Internal_Display_313]

Same

[u/pgreyy → u/Internal_Display_313]

Nice.  And smart.

Sadly, according to the law, I have no right to be a chooser.  ;)

I get what I get!  And I should be happy with what I get.  :)

(I should be clear--this is no tragedy.  I'm not the next big thing and the world isn't missing out...but, again, it was nice to tell myself that 100 people or more had heard each song...)

[u/IntuitMaks]

I got over 2000 plays on 3 of the 5 songs I’ve released so far using the amplify program. The other two a lot less. It definitely feels like a feature that makes you feel good about the total listens, but doesn’t actually deliver meaningful traffic and real potential fans to your page. I had a decently popular artist page back in the day when I made EDM, and coming back to post my solo stuff made me realize SoundCloud really went downhill. My inbox is 99% spam bullshit. Is it abnormal to get 2000+ listens when using amplify?

[u/pgreyy → u/IntuitMaks]

You're getting a good success rate--I'd have to think your previous success gives you some name recognition that helps. (But...no shame here--good for you! Point me to your page so I can check it out!)

A handful of my tracks got to that 2000+ level--but none in over half a year... The most I've gotten in that time is about 1100--and only for one track. Most of the tracks I post linger 125-200 listens. And I'm grateful for them--even if they're imaginary.

I miss my imaginary listeners! ;)

And yeah, I barely check my inbox...and on the occasion I think I'm talking to a real person, eventually they turn out to be a zombie...

[u/-_-Nobody-Special-_-]

Sorry, the Vietnamese bot farm is down.

[u/pgreyy → u/-_-Nobody-Special-_-]

I hope someone checks on the farm, make sure everybody's ok! ;)

[u/mikeofdoom]

Lot of bots but also still lots of users. I know people who main Soundcloud; their likes are memories for them.

[u/Fvngimusic]

SoundCloud is great for certain niche industries that don’t rely on charts

[u/TarynBites]

I upgraded my SoundCloud membership one year. Every bot got blocked. I was getting 20 plays within the first 2 minutes of release and after a day of bots with sometimes more than 300 plays and never any likes or comments they would disappear completely until the next release. I ended up releasing for a minute and then making it private for a day. As I recall, it worked, my stats reverted to normal, zero to very little activity.

I complained but SC did nothing to their partner there, something something Milk Club. Needless to say, I haven't had an upgraded membership there since but it was an inspiring horror show to go through. I wrote and released a song called "Fudge Bots" because of this, which I am pretty proud of.

I guess their reasoning for the bot partnership could be... the appearance of fantasy activity is better than no reality activity. I prefer my stats clean and I would be overjoyed to see not only play stats but the length of each listen. 1000 plays of 15 seconds or less would reveal so much more useful info than just every time the play button was pressed.

[u/pgreyy → u/TarynBites]

I started posting my tracks on Facebook--and they'd get really granular about their stats. Both helpful and depressing in equal measures--I think at some level, maybe I don't care to have people's disinterest revealed?

Stopped posting on FB and came here...and it's more like a storage facility for the moment. People can find it...but no one's looking for it. I just need to make my peace there...

[u/TarynBites → u/pgreyy]

For me, understanding disinterest is more important than understanding the fluff. Fluff can make the creator believe they are more than all that, the artist whose hype is as thick as a fart in a car... Kayne West and his self proclaimed genius for instance.

Disinterest, after pressing play, is definitely disheartening but it is honest. It can make one lose all hope or challenge them to do more or try harder. Having comments can be exactly the same but they are more difficult to decipher correctly. Something to take like a grain of salt.

There is no peace on FB. A soul sucking heck hole. My "storage facility" is SoundCloud.

There are, how many billions of sets of ears on the planet each with their own idea of ear candy?

Most are not looking but they are able to recognize their pleasure when the right music is discovered. The "avenues", SC, FB, the defunked Drooble, etc., maybe horribly flawed for the aspiring artist but it also maybe that the record companies have a nefarious agenda, like get rich and screw everybody including the artist over which is nothing new other than maybe now being so much easier, but, what no one can buy or have is our passion to create. My music is for me first! Worldwide acclaim is just icing on the cake with an entirely new set of problems to manage.

Make peace with your own strengths and limitations or current situation. I am no promotor, marketer, videographer or sound engineer, I do what I can as best as I currently can. I am a creative with oodles of inspiration and this is what makes me truly happy.

[u/pgreyy → u/TarynBites]

I think we're on similar trajectories. :)

(I hope that doesn't offend you!)

I believe I've just followed you on SC, Taryn. Yay!

[u/TarynBites → u/pgreyy]

No offence taken.

Taryn Bites was my "incognito" presence in mid-late 2024 and was a new vampiric direction in sound that I deemed as Electronic Punk. The Drooble site and community brought some of the seemingly less than sound minded to my virtual doorstep with a number of death threats in tow and I wanted no more of that silliness.

An unrelated assault on my person while waiting for the bus earlier that year didn't help. The trio barely even getting a court ordered "slap on the wrist" royally cheesed me off. I was nobody with no face for awhile and they should have been charged with attempted murder... with a metal bar trying to connect with my head, yeah, they should have been "sent up the river"! Scramscrag was the track that was inspired by that business.

I was me, Devyn Anthony, in the beginning, 2015, but nobody cared. I started posting as da Gibberish Pedlar for multiple years and albums to try and change that but no real change occurred. I changed back to my real name on my main account for my album Donkey which came out as well in 2024 but prior to Taryn Bites.

I may have an identity disorder, lol, my 2026 material is gonna be released as a fantasy type band called Rivergin, unless I can find or join a real one, and the only virtual element I have used there is the drums. It is the only album with live instruments, guitar and bass and I have gone back to my roots, pure rock n roll. Following the Taryn Bites profile, YouTube has those tracks posted atm.

I did not like that I had to use loops and virtual instruments but 2024 was a rare year with a large investment that I used to finally buy some good gear.

Thanks for the follow. I'll be checking out your sound at some point today, maybe after breakfast.

[u/TheGentleWanderer]

I would either experiment with a week off from posting for refining tracks a bit more, or look to see if there are developers and content creators looking for backing music.

You're putting in a lot of effort, and if you're wishing for more of an audience then you need to put some of that effort into a different place if you want to see growth. It's very easy to get stuck in a habit/practice thinking if you keep grinding at it, eventually something will hit.

I would change things up a bit. You could pull more regular users with something consistent like an album, or try to grow your audience by looking for other places to post/share the music.

[u/pgreyy → u/TheGentleWanderer]

Your advice is good. I'm not going to take it

...because I'm really not trying to be successful as my main goal.

Explanation--I worked in the music industry for most of my life. Radio, retail, nightclub dj'ing, etc. I had a band ages ago, but only recently have I gotten back into making music...and I'm making the kind of music that I "can" make--on my own and my limited skill set...for the love of doing it. I'm making my mistakes in public and learning as I go--none of that is good business!

I am quite aware of the mistakes I'm making. My tracks don't conform to specific genres and they don't follow genre norms. They're not cut to the TikTok-y demands...they're not cut to either radio or club demands. I'm certainly not a marketable talent to any audience anywhere.

No record label, back when they mattered, would sign me--or, if they did, they'd demand that I do things differently. And I know this. And I don't mind.

I'm not making unlistenable noise--I'm a pop music fan at heart. But it's an odd duck...and I'm ok being one!

So--I post a track every single day--because I can (no prompt-based generative AI either!). I like having a consecutive day streak and I'd love to keep that going until I die.

It'd certainly be better if I polished my best efforts into something that MIGHT have broader appeal--but, honestly, I'm like Hamilton over here...making music like I'm running out of time. I spent over 30 years not making my own music...so it's a great joy to do it...just for the sake of doing it.

Again, I agree with everything you say. It's smart...and if I was 30 years younger, if I still had enough hair to do crazy things with it, if I had a band full of like minded people that could make everything I do better than I could do on my own...it might be worth following your suggestions.

...in fact, I'd already have been doing those things... ;)

No. My whining isn't about my inability to build an audience.

My whining is more in--I know that these numbers are illusionary...but it still hurts when they drop for no reason. (Especially since--it's not about quality...since you get a listen if someone likes it or not. ;) )

But, I appreciate your thoughtfulness and intelligence in making really good recommendations! Everyone else should listen to you! ;)

[u/Internal_Display_313]

100 listens isn't what it offers, it offers 7 days. I think it's less mechanical feeling now (I have had a break) than when every track used to scoot up to 100 listens in 10 or 20 hours then plateau at 150 for most.

100 listens could just mean it was put in line for 100 people with a listen being as short as it took them to hit "skip track" or longer if they actually listened.

A track that has done seven days and sits at 50 because it was skipped a lot could be badly tagged. I have one on 17, I labelled it "Electronic" and tagged it "bouncy", "melodic" and "live-jam". I should probably delete it, repost and tag it up better. More tags and discount "live-jam" that's for the people, not the algorithm.

It feels a bit more organic tbh. I feel like those 17 people were real and listened, or weren't able to skip. The last listening data I experienced seemed to be a predictable rise to 100-150 for everything under 10mins (over 10mins hardly got 10), then the occasional 1000 to push a bit of dopamine onto the user decision to pay for the next month(s).

[u/pgreyy → u/Internal_Display_313]

I've experimented with changing up tags.

I learned that if I posted something as "Electronic" for the main tag--it got consistent listens.
I'd get less if I got more specific. I'd get less for anything not having "Electronic" as the main tag.

I get the most consistent listens if one of the sub-tags is "Tech House"...and that's not even an official sub-tag.
I get almost NO listens if one of the sub-tags is "Triphop"...and that is. (odd.)

I don't find much value in "mood" based sub-tags. Doesn't seem to change anything.

But yeah--up until this week, nearly every track got between 125-170 listens...and this week, 5 of 7 got less than 100...so, I got the sads about that. Stupid, really...again--it's all fake.

And I think you lose the chance to amplify anything longer than 10 minutes. (Once I had to cut something to 9:59 because 10 minutes was too long.) I don't mind this--none of my songs should be that long! ;)

But your description of "Amplify" is correct, I think--it puts it in front of 100 people (or 100 accounts, really) and they could but are not required to listen to it.

...it's just that, it had been really consistent in getting tracks those 100+ listens...and suddenly, and I didn't change anything, it's stopped being that consistent.

(For all I know, this week it might all go back to normal--let me check today's track... Today's track currently has 6 listens--amplified. Prior to last week, that'd be around 70 listens by now. Shrug. New normal, I guess.)

Also--I envy your willingness to retag tracks. One of the things that stops me from doing YouTube content is I just don't want to shop thumbnails and captions--I just want to post the things I make. And, I guess I just need to accept that the system isn't designed to keep me from falling through the cracks if I don't follow the meta...

Shrug, again.

BUT--great comment. You get it!

[u/noxicon]

Play Count means absolutely nothing if you're a new artist looking to grow. The metrics you should pay attention to are interactions.

A lot of artists also don't promote their music. They just chuck it up there and hope for the best. That will not get it done in the modern landscape.

[u/CollectionUpbeat5366]

Je suis sur SOUNDCLOUD depuis 3 ans. Récemment j'ai voulu régresser : passer d'Artist Pro à Artist. Pour des raisons de budget,et parce que je ne déchaîne pas vraiment de masse d'écoute. Je reçois sans arrêt des messages+des mails parfois,m'annonçant qu'il y a un problème avec le paiement de l'abonnement. J'ai passé des heures à discuter avec le bot ...ça ne change rien. Toujours ces foutus messages. Pourtant il y a bel et bien le logo Artist en lieu et place de ce qui était Artist Pro jusqu'au mois d'août 2026...Mes 72 "morceaux" sont encore tous affichés, alors qu'avec l'abonnement Artist,je n'aurai droit qu'à 3h d'écoute. Je vais finir par perdre tous mes morceaux..

[u/seven7in]

What a freaking weirdo bro.Yeah , dude , I mean , try to actually build a fan base instead of paying soundcloud to find you one . Losr. You're probably bait. Ha got me

[u/pgreyy → u/seven7in]

I'm never going to build a fan base. And that's ok.

Those days are long behind me. There had been a time that it could have been possible--but, by the time I got back into making music...it can, at best, only be a hobby. And I'm fine with that.

I'm also not paying to build a fan base. I pay SoundCloud for unlimited storage. They offer the "amplify" program...and usually it pretends to work, occasionally it stops pretending.

Not bait. But yes...I'm a freaking weird old bro. (Thus...no chance of a fan base.)

[u/seven7in → u/pgreyy]

What is this a pity party

[u/pgreyy → u/seven7in]

I don't think so.

I was just pointing out that there don't seem to be any real people on SoundCloud other than music creators (hello fellow music creators!)...and a swarm of bots, scammers, hoaxers, and hustlers--none of whom are actually listening to the music that they message you about.

...and that a program that had been delivering 100+ listens for every track within 24 hours has suddenly stopped doing that.

I'm aware that those listen counts aren't real people and don't mean anything.

...but it is odd that it changed.

That's all. I'm not asking anyone who doesn't give a shit to give a shit.

But, I also know I'm not the only one frustrated by the "Amplify" perk's occasional blood clots.

Pity has nothing to do with it (and I'm not a victim or anything. I'm not being "wronged". Just felt like sharing my experiences. Feel free to ignore!)

[u/Equivalent-Permit209]

Don't feel that way. I'm a musician too, and seeing this kind of thing can be a little discouraging. I started on October 14th, and I do believe there are quite a lot of accounts that aren't real, especially those that leave generic comments on tracks. However, I also believe there are real people listening to the music.

If you think about it, many artists were discovered on SoundCloud. I believe it's a platform that's more suited to alternative music and music in English.

That's the approach I'm taking. I'm not too worried about numbers right now. I enjoy the whole universe I'm creating through the music I write and produce.

That being said, don't give up! Stay consistent, and if you need to, change your approach, switch up your sound, or try something more experimental.

By the way, if anyone's interested in checking out my music, my artist name is Paufen, and my main track is "Follow You". Give it a listen and follow me if you like what you hear! Sending love! 🖤🎧

[u/pgreyy → u/Equivalent-Permit209]

As a nighttclub dj, I never had a problem taking requests--so, if Paufen asks me to follow...I have no problem doing that. ;)

I look forward to paying attention to you from now on. :)

[u/Equivalent-Permit209 → u/pgreyy]

Haha, I’ll gladly take that as a DJ request! Thank you for the follow and for checking out my music. I really appreciate it :)

[u/ben904]

Spend more time marketing yourself & networking and less time writing novels on Reddit. Reach out to other producers or DJ's in your genre / area. Get on DJ's sets. If they don't want you on their set, work on making better music.

Word of mouth is how you get plays on SoundCloud.

[u/pgreyy → u/ben904]

That'd be good advice if that's what I was trying to do...or what I'm aiming for...

As a professional nightclub dj for over 20 years--and a very successful one at that--I'm not really trying to make cookie cutter "easily slotted into a set" music. Nothing wrong with anyone that IS trying to do that...it just isn't my path.

I don't think there ARE any other producers or DJs in my genre. I'm not sure I have a genre (not that it is so experimental...it's just that it doesn't stick into any particular box.) BUT, I am a member of an electronic music producers group here in Seattle...and we meet every month. I also have lots of friends that are still djing...and more than a few that are known dance music producers (names you might know, depending on how old of a head you are)...and occasionally, I'll send them something I think they'd be amused by. They pat me on my head...and that's probably exactly the right response.

"I think this is what some people are calling 'indie dance'???" said a friend of mine that worked with Frankie Knuckles on legendary house tracks...as a polite way of telling me how far off target I am. ;)

Deserved. I'm not surprised. I hope to get better. Until I get better, marketing and networking is probably more of a detriment than a boon.

For now, it's enough that I'm making music again. If people listen great. My "novel" wasn't to bemoan not being successful...it was that none of the messages in my inbox are from real people, and a program from SoundCloud that had regularly generated 100+ listens for every track I dropped suddenly stopped doing that...

And--it doesn't matter what I've done in my life, I've ALWAYS expressed myself fully. It doesn't cost you anything. You're not obligated to read it. It takes me surprisingly little time to type (I type the way I talk...it'd take a lot less time to listen to me than it does to read, but it's the same.)

This is a place to communicate with other people. I do that. I'm just not a member of the TL/DR generation. If the point is to talk about the stuff we do, why is it a bad thing to do that???

...but, it's a fair cop--I DO type a lot. Neurodivergence proven! And you can imagine that too many of my tracks are too long--I can't seem to edit myself. ;)

q.e.d.

None of this matters. Feel free to ignore. :)

[u/My_First_Knife1]

I have been posting for years, not using a "pro account" and this site is flawless!!!

I have 4 different channels from groups I have been In and not a single problem!

My links always work, I never have a problem logging in to them and the views go up over time slowly🤷‍♂️

I post there because it is free and I am not looking to get famous there, I tried being a touring musician for a couple decades and found it some of the most fun years of my life. So I just post SC and don't worrie, I make music for fun not a pay cheque.

You ppl pay for them to boost your profile and when you don't become the next Lil Wayne yall get salt AF!

[u/seven7in → u/My_First_Knife1]

I got put on like 30 SoundCloud official playlists, and I had a free account . So i paid for pro just as a thank you. But to be honest I don't have to because what i'm doing is moving enough for them to not ignore

[u/pgreyy → u/My_First_Knife1]

I'm not paying them to boost my profile (and I'm certainly not thinking I'll become the next Lil Wayne.)

I'm paying for unlimited storage...and they offer me this "amplify" program that is supposed to analyze a track I make and put it in front of 100 people that should like it.

Before I started amplifying tracks, my top listened to track got exactly 9 listens. Once I started amplifying them, over 90% of them have received at least 100 listens (my highest listened to tracks have just under 3000 listens.)

I also don't monetize my music. I don't plan to. I also make my music because I love to make music, not as a career path.

But I do hope that someone listens to it--and that's the reason I posted. I could kid myself some people did, but in the past six days, that illusion has shattered...and I'm bummed about that. And it does feel like there's nobody real on the platform.

No salt involved. Just disappointment.

(...and to be clear, I'm not mad at Soundcloud...though, I'd love to understand the decisions made by their Amplify program a bit better...if I'm doing something to short circuit it occasionally--more recently--I'd like to avoid doing that.)

[u/My_First_Knife1 → u/pgreyy]

Well then send a link to your SC and I will do the same.

Quite sure we are not going to be on the same page musically but I enjoy finding new tunes and I do add artists I enjoy

[u/pgreyy → u/My_First_Knife1]

Same here. Consider yourself messaged!

[u/seven7in → u/pgreyy]

Holy slop

[u/pgreyy → u/seven7in]

No slop. No prompt-based generative AI used in the music I make. No use of AI to type as much as I do on message boards either.

Just somebody that uses SoundCloud that has an opinion about it, based on my experiences using it. Feel free to ignore if you'd like.