SoundCloud app review: your music in the cloud

Introduction

There may be many music streaming apps out there, but none of them are quite like SoundCloud. It’s more than just another music streaming service;  it’s a social media music streaming service. For the budding musician it’s a great place to get your start. You can easily share your latest recording session or just follower other emerging artists and see what they have to offer. This music discovery app is compatible with the iPhone, iPad, and iPod. You can use the app for free, but you can also subscribe to gain access to added features.

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Make Your Music Available to the World

If you want to make a name for yourself as a musician but don’t know where to start SoundCloud may be just what you’re looking for.  SoundCloud allows you to easily record and upload your own sounds (it doesn’t have to be music; it could be a weekly podcast). You can also follow and listen to other member’s sounds. It’s pretty simple to get started as well.

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What separates SoundCloud from all other streaming services is the ability to easily share your own music. It’s as simple as clicking record! Most standard music streaming services focus on sharing popular music that everyone’s familiar with. They don’t really provide a platform for new musicians to explore their creative side. SoundCloud does exactly that. It really is a unique app.

Getting Started

So how does it work? First you have to create a profile. You can use your Facebook account, Twitter, or your email address to get things started. Once you’re done with that you’ll be asked to choose a few categories to follow, which will then be used to populate your feed. That’s all you really need to do to get started, and from there it’s just a matter of familiarizing yourself with the app. If you do wish to add more details to your profile, it can’t be done within the app:  you will need to sign in on the website to do this.

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Once you’re up and running using the app is a breeze. You’ll find four icons at the top left-hand side of the app for navigation. The first icon will take you to the main features of the app (assuming you’ve picked one, this icon will be your profile picture). Here you’ll find a few different options to customize your experience. You can view the sounds you’ve created yourself or reposted from those you follow, sounds that you’ve liked, suggestions for who you might want to follow, people you are already following, people who follow you, and you can also follow your Facebook friends that are on SoundCloud. The second icon will take you to your feed – similar to Facebook’s news feed. The third icon allows you to quickly see if anyone has left any comments about your own sounds, or if they’ve simply liked your sounds. The last icon allows you to search for artists or their music.

At the bottom of the app you’ll find a sort of mini player that enables you to control the playback of the sounds you like – it’s also the place where you can record your own sounds to share with other users. You can expand the player, which will allow you to view a visualization of the audio stream. From here you can also share the sounds you like through your various social media platforms, but probably the coolest feature of the player is that it allows you to leave comments throughout the track. Is there a cool guitar lick you really like? Leave a comment right at that point in the track and let the artist know how you feel!

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Simple interface, easy to use
• Multiple sign up options
• Cool features, and social media interaction

Cons

• App does not have all the features that are available on the website 

Final Track

This really is a great little app. If you’re a struggling musician it might just give you the voice you’ve been looking for, or you can just follow other new and established artists to see what they’re up to. Give it a try, as I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.