{"id":339983,"date":"2017-05-04T01:16:46","date_gmt":"2017-05-03T17:16:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1484754"},"modified":"2017-05-04T01:16:46","modified_gmt":"2017-05-03T17:16:46","slug":"soundclouds-the-upload-uses-machine-learning-to-help-you-find-new-tracks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/soundclouds-the-upload-uses-machine-learning-to-help-you-find-new-tracks\/","title":{"rendered":"SoundCloud\u2019s \u2018The Upload\u2019 uses machine learning to help you find new tracks"},"content":{"rendered":"

SoundCloud<\/a> made a name for itself among the landscape of music streaming services as the one where creators themselves uploaded\u00a0music and other sound recordings\u00a0\u2014 picking up the moniker \u201cthe YouTube of audio\u201d in the process. Now the company is launching a new discovery feature that plays on that idea and highlights what\u2019s getting added. The Upload, as it is called, will suggest new music to you that has been uploaded to SoundCloud in the last few days, basing its suggestions on what you have listened to on SoundCloud in the past, and using machine learning to figure out what you might like to listen to next.<\/p>\n

You get to the new feature by navigating via the Discover tab on the web, or through Search on SoundCloud\u2019s iOS and Android apps, SoundCloud noted in a blog post<\/a> announcing the new service.<\/p>\n

Upload is an expansion on another discovery feature that SoundCloud had launched a year ago called Suggested Tracks<\/a>, which also used similar algorithms but dipped into SoundCloud\u2019s wider catalog. If Suggested Tracks was like Discover Weekly, The Upload is like Spotify\u2019s Release Radar<\/a>, which also is aimed at suggesting new releases to users.<\/p>\n

Discovery and recommendation tools\u00a0\u2014 which are also used by other platforms like Apple Music \u2014 which help users figure out what to listen to on large, open-ended music platforms, are a core part of how these\u00a0streaming services grow\u00a0their user bases and engagement.<\/p>\n

They are important specifically as they try to grow beyond a core audience of early-adopter music enthusiasts. More casual listeners might be wooed by the sound of having millions of tracks at their disposal to listen to, but when it comes to actually figuring out what to play, they\u00a0might come up mute.<\/p>\n

That might\u00a0be especially true at SoundCloud, which touts over 150 million music tracks for its premium Go+ users (120 million for Free and Go users) and a significantly more open taxonomy with multiple versions of the same song, by different and the same people in the most popular cases. (As a point of comparison, Spotify has around 30 million tracks.)<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve asked, but SoundCloud is not disclosing, just how many tracks are uploaded each week.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, given that SoundCloud actually has more tracks than many of the other services out there, it\u2019s a little surprising to me that it hasn\u2019t made more of an effort to launch more discovery services like this. In addition to The Upload and Suggested Tracks, other machine-learning powered services on SoundCloud today include Who to Follow, Stations (track and artist stations) and Charts.<\/p>\n

More generally, SoundCloud is in a bit of a crunch time at the moment. The company says it has 175 million users, and while it is trying to convert more of\u00a0them to paid tiers<\/a> (the cheapest level of SoundCloud Go starts at $4.99), it is also trying to grow the bigger user base to push its advertising model, and to continue to\u00a0make the platform an attractive place for creators to show off their work.<\/p>\n

The company has at times been an acquisition target for the likes of Spotify, Google and Twitter, but from what we\u2019ve heard, it has things to get in order before it can command a deal at or above\u00a0the price where investors are valuing it (which was $700 million<\/a> at its last equity round, although that was now back in 2014).<\/p>\n

SoundCloud\u00a0is, from what we understand, still trying to close a new\u00a0equity round, so\u00a0getting more services to improve engagement in place may also be to help put it in shape for that. In the meantime, SoundCloud has been arranging credit lines \u2014 the last was announced in March, for $70 million.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" SoundCloud made a name for itself among the landscape of music streaming services as the one where creators themselves uploaded\u00a0music and other sound recordings\u00a0— picking up the moniker “the YouTube of audio” in the process. Now the company is launching a new discovery feature that plays on that idea and highlights what’s getting added. The Upload, as it is called,… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

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