Adalheidis Daina Aletheia Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) Right before I quit music many years ago, MySpace was a big thing (around 2008), but it felt like a musician dating site or something. (14 years later...) So now many years later there is this whole buffet of places to post your stuff. Just to clarify, I am not referring to the distribution sites like Spotify, Tidal, Apple, etc. or the distributors like TuneCore, etc., but rather the sites we can have a simple page to post our music and or sell it. What are your pros, cons, and thoughts on the various music streaming/posting sites. Mine are as follows, from what I started using. Soundcloud: Visually and functionally from a user perspective, I like it, however, I don't like the following from an artist perspective; posting in reverse order technique to keep things in order (I did figure it out sooner than later), can't disable comments(I just like the choice), they really, really, really want me to go pro, they market towards the 'pay-2-win" musician concept, there is way too many re-posters and 'pay me to like your stuff nonsense'. I don't have a problem with the 'Pro' pay to add more material, that doesn't bother me, and is reasonable for server cost, I could always just delete less favorable material at some point to make more room, or just do there pro ordeal if I really wanted. But if I were to invest in one of these sites, might have to evaluate them all for a bit longer. On the plus side, it is a fabulous place to find obscure and never heard of musicians.. There is some really interesting and obscure musical art on soundcloud if you dig deep enough. I also like how you can tag your material with any genre or even make up one. If your song sounds like potatoes, just type in #potatoes if you don't know what else it sounds like. Drooble: This is my favorite so far, however, there site keeps going down. Was down for a month, then back, now down again as of this post. So, because of that, keeping them on hold for now. Otherwise, I have allot of good things to say about Drooble, I just like how it is set up. Too bad there is stability issues recently. BandLab: I don't like the layout. Visually sloppy and looks disorganized. But I do like the private project function where you can share in progress work with selected individuals. Doesn't seem that great for posting material. AudioMack: Well, you can post allot of stuff, but it is really catered towards specific genres. More than slightly spammed with ads and re-posters, and not the best visually and functionally. I treat it more like a back-up site for stuff. Not enough genre and sub-genre choices for material, have to pick their options for charts/ratings. ReverbNation: Similar to soundcloud in regards to they really, really, really want me to go pro, and they market towards the 'pay-2-win" musician concept. They really want you to buy your way into some hopeful failed stardom, nope, not buying into it. But it is ok otherwise I guess. SoundClick: I just started trying this one out. The navigation and site layout is a bit screwy. There charts thing seems interesting but not sure how accurate it is. I'll need to come back to this one once I get a better feel for it. Not enough genre and sub-genre choices for material, have to pick their options for charts/ratings. BandCamp: I like BandCamp for a centralized location and mostly have it as the purchase site if anyone were to ever actual want any of my stuff. I like the discography and artist page for it's simplicity. That's it for now. Edited March 14, 2022 by Adalheidis Daina Aletheia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shane_B. Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 My favorite is Soundcloud. I've never heard of Drooble or AudioMack. I just checked an you're right about Drooble, it is down right now. Not a good sign. I've tried the others but I didn't like their layouts. I like how Soundcloud looks, if you master your music to the levels they want your streams will sound great, and I like that I can set things to private. I'm sure you can set things private on the other sites too, I just never got that far to check. I did have a country song I wrote reach #6 on Soundclick one time. I was completely shocked. But I never cared for how it was laid out so I stopped using it. On the few I did post publicly on Soundcloud I got a lot of good response and a few followers which completely blew my mind. I never even tried. I didn't want that. I just wanted a place to park my recordings to share here, TDPRI, and the Presonus forums. The Presonus forum sucks for Soundcloud links because you can't post a private one. It has to be a public link and I do not like that especially when I'm in the mix process asking for advice. So, I don't post there anymore. TDPRI either for other reasons. They do ask me to pay to have unlimited uploads but I don't do enough music to ever hit the upload cap. If I ever do hit it I'll just deleted the really old stuff I have set to private. I'm sure others have more in depth input, but from a weekend warrior type not trying to sell his music, my choice is Soundcloud. There is some great music there. Don't rule out Youtube either. The things I have posted I just did simple videos with the lyrics scrolling in the background. Nothing fancy. I have noticed that people are more willing to listen to music with a video than just audio like on Soundcloud. Even if it is just a simple background with the lyrics going across the screen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Smith Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 Soundcloud- Is presently my mainstay. I am paying for the pro plan. I am happy with the quality, the reliability and the stats. One thing I note is always a bump in stats at the beginning of a new track posting. After that it gets buried in oblivion. I get most of my followers at the beginning of a new track. Might be curious individuals who happen to see it in their feed and click on it. There are a LOT of other musicians on SC, so it almost becomes like a club for support. I'll admit I don't have time to listen to much of their material because I'm making my own material. I make an effort, but many times that's all it is. Lots of musicians there who garner large followings are regularly commenting on other's tracks. This mutual thing boosts the numbers, but they probably don't translate to reality most of the time. Some people cheat and buy followers. Yes you can do that. I wouldn't know why anyone would. It's the reason we see tracks that suck with thousands of plays. I am seriously considering making a move away from SC, so it will be interesting to hear comments from others on the other options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Dickens Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 20 minutes ago, Tim Smith said: Some people cheat and buy followers. Yes you can do that. I wouldn't know why anyone would. It's the reason we see tracks that suck with thousands of plays. So its just like commercial radio, then. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Smith Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 49 minutes ago, bdickens said: So its just like commercial radio, then. Yep, pretty much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB01 Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 (edited) I started with SoundCloud (still on it). I had a paid plan but they started posting ads on stuff so I thought well if I have to put up with ads, they can shove the paid subscription and I've reverted to a free account. It's a good layout and there are some incredibly talented musicians on there, I get fed up of the spammers and other idiots (some blocks and reports required). I recently started using Bandlab, I like the private track function but I dislike the way versions are posted (I seem to end up with lots of multiple versions instead of overwriting the original). I don't sense too many soulmates on Bandlab (a lot of stuff on my feed I would never listen to). I'm not sure about forking either (not really my thing) but can see the attraction of that feature for others and you can turn disable it. Same issue as SC with spammers and idiots, but they do seem to block accounts on report. Not tried any others, some of the Bandlab issues I have are probably due to my inexperience with the platform and I'll probably fully migrate off SC to BL at some point. Agree about YouTube, but I just don't have the time or patience for making videos as well - kudos to those that do. Andy Edited March 14, 2022 by AndyB01 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Byron Dickens Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 28 minutes ago, AndyB01 said: Agree about YouTube, but I just don't have the time or patience for making videos as well - kudos to those that do. All you have to do is use a background image. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB01 Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 Just now, bdickens said: All you have to do is use a background image. I know, you're right, but if I was doing a vid I'd have to go all in. I wouldn't be content with a single still image, but I'm not knocking it. Each to their own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Smith Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 YT is an option. I have a few videos uploaded, most of them are hid from the public. I use Movie Maker Pro which can get the job done. If you are mainly a musician though who doesn't fancy playing in video editing software, it's probably not a fit. I mainly just dabbled in it. Not enough time to make anything super slick. I liked Vimeo better. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyB01 Posted March 14, 2022 Share Posted March 14, 2022 I used to make a lot of videos, using Premiere Elements (good software), mainly shot on my trusted Canon MVX250i DV camcorder. I spent many hours doing the real-time capture then adding titles, transitions, FX, and SmartSound audio tracks before rendering to a finished project. I can now shoot better quality footage in HD on my smartphone and yet I almost never bother. I guess I just fell out of love with it, just at the point when it's never been easier to do. Ironic, right? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonathanWard Posted September 15, 2023 Share Posted September 15, 2023 (edited) Your experience with these platforms may vary depending on your specific needs and goals. It's essential to choose playlist placement that align with your objectives. For example, if you're primarily looking to distribute and sell your music, platforms like Bandcamp might be more suitable. If you're seeking exposure and collaboration opportunities, SoundCloud or Drooble might be worth exploring. Edited September 21, 2023 by JonathanWard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted September 15, 2023 Share Posted September 15, 2023 On 3/13/2022 at 9:34 PM, Adalheidis Daina Aletheia said: Musician Streaming Sites: Pros and Cons? Heh, I read the topic title without the question mark! ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigb Posted September 15, 2023 Share Posted September 15, 2023 (edited) Ok, fine. I'll throw in an on-topic, semi-useful comment for once! ? (But, only if I must! ?) Speaking for for myself, I have only bought music over the last few years from Bandcamp but, whenever I want to hear what a song or band sounds like, I search on YouTube. Several of my friends search on YouTube first as well. Hope that helps! Edited September 15, 2023 by craigb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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