SoundCloud slips out of beta, aims to become the YouTube of audio

4 Dec 2012

Addictive sound sharing app SoundCloud has removed the ‘private beta’ tag and is now available to the public. The platform now reaches over 180m people and up to 10 hours of music and audio is posted to SoundCloud every minute – that’s 8pc of the entire internet population.

What’s truly astonishing is SoundCloud was only released into private beta in May this year.

The public version of SoundCloud, enigmatically titled ‘Next SoundCloud’ will aim to connect a global community of consumers, artists, bands, podcasters and other sound creators. The company, which is backed by Kleiner Perkins, says engagement on the new platform is up 30pc.

“There’s no other platform out there that lets everyone get so close to such a diverse community of music and audio creators,” said Alexander Ljung, founder and CEO of SoundCloud. “From today, ‘Next’ is now simply SoundCloud. It’s a platform for people to discover new, original music and audio, for creators to build audiences, and for everyone to share what they hear whether online or on mobile.”

New UX

The SoundCloud technology is used by Grammy-winning bands like the Deftones and producers like Big Boi. It is also used by media firms like The Economist and politicians like Mayor Bloomberg.

It allows users to share sounds privately and over platforms like Facebook Connect and they can curate sounds and discover new sounds all the time.

Starting December 6th, mobile users will be able to enjoy reposts, updated mobile search, and UX updates on both iOS and Android.

“Everything’s new: much more than an aesthetic redesign, the latest SoundCloud is a state-of-the-art, re-engineered platform that feels so different from before and offers an even better music and audio experience,” said Eric Wahlforss, founder and CTO.

“Our passionate community’s feedback during the beta has gotten us to where we are today: ready to turn on the new SoundCloud for everyone.”

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com