The Controversy:
SoundCloud has everyone in an uproar again. This time not because of its indiscriminate copyright laws which has destroyed tons of music from artists like Kaskade, or a price increase which has turned off superstars such as Deadmau5 but because of their mobile app update. The latest update that automatically started for many users has caused a lot of turmoil.
The new app caters to listeners only and leaves artists and other uploaders in the dark. Instead of the user friendly home screen that used to have your songs neatly in order, and clearly displayed track views and other vital data to producers like reposts and comments, the home screen now only displays favorites and playlists. You actually have to do a little digging in order to find your own tracks. It seems rather illogical since Soundcloud does have a login feature and usually when one logs into their own account, it should display THEIR info. Also when trying to scan through a track, which requires the swiping of a finger, more times than not the song changes, as a finger swipe also now changes tracks.
The new news feed with no track views or track data
Why Everyone Should Take a Deep Breath:
This is a beta version of the final app. Soundcloud has come forward and said that if it seems like the application is missing some features it is because, well…it is. They basically released an unfinished product to the public to gauge feedback. Obviously there are a lot of strong opinions about the new version, so we can only hope they will listen to the publics opinion and revamp the application to include what is missing. If you have a serious qualm about the updated app then I suggest emailing Soundcloud (contact@soundcloud.com) and explaining to them what you would like to see changed or added. Soundcloud has defended the change in the app by saying that it makes it easier for individuals who are less than digital natives to use and in turn boosting a tracks audience:
“One of the major things creators want from us is a larger audience. The better our mobile app is for listeners, the better we are for creators.”
That being said Soundcloud, it is great if there is a larger audience for a track, but if you cannot tell how many views a song is getting, it is kind of pointless. So unfortunately we are all stuck with this strange new ‘updated' version of Soundcloud until they finish what they are currently working on. That being said, I have a feeling (outside of artists/uploaders of course) once some people get over the learning curve of understanding a new platform this whole controversy might die down into a memory. I mean Facebook changes like twice and week and everyone freaks out about that but in the end, they accept it. Why? Because more times than not, it ends up that the company behind the scenes is working to help us, not screw us over; sometimes it just takes time to understand exactly what their logic is.
