SoundCloud, one of the world’s largest music streaming platforms, has become known for its massive library of unreleased songs, remixes, and underground music. For many listeners, SoundCloud is the first place to search for unreleased tracks and independent artists. This is the story of how SoundCloud changed underground music.
The beginnings of SoundCloud
Towards the end of the summer in 2007, Swedish sound designer Alexander Ljung and musician Eric Wahlforss founded SoundCloud in the German capital of Berlin. The idea was simple: a tool for musicians and independent artists to share tracks privately. The platform made collaboration easier by allowing users to comment on specific parts of a song.
Unlike MySpace, SoundCloud allowed tracks to be embedded across the web and made it easier for artists to share audio outside the platform. Not only songs could be uploaded but seminars, podcasts, field recordings and so on. In its early years, SoundCloud was free to use and did not rely on the same advertising-heavy model as many rivaling platforms.
How SoundCloud overtook MySpace
SoundCloud quickly began to gain a large market share. According to an article from Wired, SoundCloud had over 160 000 users consisting of artists, labels, producers and so on using the platform in 2009. Just a year later, in May of 2010, SoundCloud announced that it had over 1 million users. Its biggest competitor MySpace declined quickly and had to let go of 60 % of its workforce in the beginning of 2011. It was later sold for just $35 million, just a fraction of the $580 million News Corp paid to acquire it in 2005.
When MySpace was sold, SoundCloud got large investments from venture capitalists including Ashton Kutcher. In the summer of 2013, the platform had over 40 million registered users and was growing rapidly.
Competition from Spotify and Apple Music
What separated SoundCloud from streaming competitors such as Spotify or Apple Music was that they had no licensing deals with major labels. This was both an advantage and a drawback. It meant that the platform couldn’t compete with the other big streaming services. On the other hand, the platform’s open upload system made it easier for users to upload remixes, edits and sound clips, without having full rights to the original material.
Many remixes, unreleased songs, DJ mixes and mashups were uploaded to the platform using copyrighted material without permission from rights holders. It created a sort of legal gray area with an ecosystem of unofficial music releases. To deal with copyright issues, SoundCloud introduced automated systems that compare uploaded tracks with a database of copyrighted recordings. If the system detected a match, the track would be removed. The system was not flawless, and users found ways around it. This was going to become one of the main reasons why SoundCloud changed underground music and allowed emerging artists to break through independently.
How SoundCloud changed underground music
As a result, this created a space where independent artists could freely upload tracks containing samples and instrumentals that might have been flagged for copyright infringement on other platforms. In 2015, a new wave of rap emerged called “SoundCloud rap”. It was often characterized by lofi-beats and raw vocals which drew comparisons to the punk and metal scene. It became more than just a subgenre and normalized an aesthetic marked by face tattoos, brightly dyed hair and luxury streetwear such as Supreme. XXXTentacion, Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Peep and Lil Yachty gained fame during this era.
But rap wasn’t the only genre that became popular on Soundcloud. Electronic Dance Music (EDM) was blooming on the platform and allowed DJs and producers to upload long mixes of DJ-sets and remixes of popular songs. Kaytranada, Porter Robinson, Marshmello and Sam Gellaitry are just a few examples of producers who got their breakthrough through SoundCloud.
After the term “SoundCloud rapper” was coined, the platform became associated with underground music. SoundCloud, by nature, allowed emerging artists to enter the music industry without the support from a major label.
Conclusion
SoundCloud revolutionized the music industry by lowering the barrier for emerging artists. Through this, an ecosystem that favoured experimentation and individuality was created. The platform proved that artists could build careers independently and connect directly with audiences around the world.
SoundCloud became a starting point for many influential artists from many different genres. To this day, one could argue that SoundCloud still is the one of the biggest hubs for “underground” musicians, showing exactly how SoundCloud changed underground music forever.