Soundcloud is a social networking website focused on allowing artists to share, release, and promote their music. It solves the problem of how artists can share music online without risking piracy or loss of revenue. Artists use Soundcloud to generate hype for upcoming releases by sharing works in progress. Labels use it to discover new artists and engage with fans. Soundcloud has been successful, ranking highly on investment lists and gaining popularity through integration with Facebook and apps.

1. Soundcloud Moving music since 2007

2. Music and Social Networking “All of our marketing is not around albums but around bands and brands. Our marketing is about understanding the social elements of songs, of music, of emotions.” To me, the future of music is really simple. It's cloud-based servers that have all of the music, TV, movies -- whatever it might be. Very rich application-driven PDAs, whether it's the iPhone or whatever else comes up, that has applications that I have yet to see. Like digital maids or valets, which go out and knows what your musical tastes are and your 20 friends, and finds that music and organizes it -- not the actual music but the metadata so you can pull it when and how you want it. - Terry McBride CEO Nettwerk Records

3. Nettwerk Records The quotes from the previous slide came from Terry McBride, the CEO of Nettwerk Records. NettwerkRecords manages artists such as BT, Chromeo, Sarah McLachlan, AvrilLavigne, and Morgan Page. In 2002 Nettwerk restructured their entire management style to be focused on social networking and to promote websites such as Soundcloud which help promote their artists by engaging fans. Nettwerk Records actions symbolize a global change in the music industry towards how artists promote and are promoted.

4. What is Soundcloud? Social networking website with a focus on providing a medium for music artists to share, release, demo, and broadcast their music. Gives music labels an additional way to receive demos, network with artists, promote their existing artists and advertise new music. Solves the frustrating problem of how to share music on the internet interactively without risking loss of revenue to file sharing.

6. Artists needed a way to promote and hype their new work, along with their existing discography, without infringing on intellectual property rights or risking loss of revenue from file sharing.

7. Artists used to send their demos via email to labels, hype their upcoming productions on websites such asMyspaceandFacebookbut have now began to switch toSoundclouddue to its dedication and specialization with music and its intuitive and clean interface.

8. Distinct advantages especially for DJs: wave formations, no limits to file sizes.

10. Downfall is that you can only send one file to one person at a time without much chance for networking or feedback.

11. Myspace opened a “Myspace Music” division that allowed for social networking and safe music sharing for artists and labels.

12. Downfall was a complicated cluttered layout and a poorly designed music player.

13. Last.fmpromised to be a social music revolution by providing an online radio station of a users favorite artists and songs for free.

15. How Artists are using Soundcloud Uploading productions in advance of their release to generate hype and increase sales. Networking with other like artists to help share and merge fan bases. Allowing fans and other artists to upload their own ideas and productions directly to them viaSoundcloud Providing an easy medium for fans to annotate and comment on the uploaded music. “Private sharing” allows artists to collaborate and work together remotely while songs are still in production.

16. How labels are using Soundcloud Promoting their artists and giving fans an easy way to hear and listen to artists for free to decide if they want to purchase. Discovering new artists through direct uploads and by analyzing social networking chains and which upcoming artists are gaining popularity. Interacting directly with fans to get ideas on what kinds of songs/productions/merchandise fans may be interested in purchasing in the future.

17. Soundcloud Success Ranked #2 on the Tech Media invest 100 list Makes its money by offering premium accounts for users who have large catalogs or want more advanced statistics and tracking features. Integration with Facebook and Twitter updates to directly guide users from other social networks to Soundcloud. Recently released an iPhone app that makes sharing music as easy as a view touches

18. Soundcloud Success Facebook Application:

19. What do you think? What type of audio-sharing websites/applications have you used in the past? What did you like/dislike about them? How does Soundcloud stack up? Illegal file sharing: Do you support it?

20. Sources http://www.pbs.org/mediashift/2008/12/nettwerk-ceo-terry-mcbride-puts-fans-in-charge-of-bands346.html http://soundcloud.com/pages/who-we-are http://www.soundlcoud.com/morganpage http://www.futureofmusicbook.com/2009/01/more-from-terry-mcbride-of-nettwerk/ http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/audio/2009/nov/10/tech-weekly-soundcloud-ibm-pc-alex-ljung