I also posted this to /r/wearethemusicmakers so I'll just paste it here.
Hey all. I've been trying to accept what SoundCloud has become for quite some time now and I find myself more disappointed with each update. Specifically, the iOS app. In my opinion, it's fucking awful. No notifications, comments, etc. Pretty much impossible to actually communicate with anybody on it. I don't know how it is on Android, but I'm guessing it's not that much better. The entire platform itself is just becoming shit. It's so overloaded with features now, I always feel behind in the game. Endless bots as well. I miss the way it used to be. It's more about the listeners than the artist at this point.
So I've just been brainstorming about what would make a good, honest alternative. I'm a UI designer, so I'm not extremely skilled at coding something like this. But I figured I could get some input from artists, spend a month or two designing the interface, and go from there. Maybe try a kickstarter or something to hire more developers, I don't know yet.
Some ideas:
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Simplified, minimal interface
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More focus on the social aspect, especially on mobile. I was thinking something like the Instagram feed meets SoundCloud. Visible comments, likes, and reposts underneath the post. Use of tagging/hash tagging. I like the idea of comments right on the "waveform", but it's not really necessary and IMO doesn't really encourage users to interact with each other in the comments.
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Upload via Dropbox/Drive on mobile (on iOS at least, once again not sure how different things are on Android)
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Create public or private playlists that can go directly to one's feed
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Bring back groups?
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A front/discover page, like IG meets Reddit, with a voting system where users can up/downvote tracks. I just thought of this while writing so it may or may not seem dumb. Just spitting out ideas
I have more, they're just not coming to mind at the moment. Anybody have any input? Feel free to shit on it as well. I'm trying to gauge if I should put my time into a project like this or not. Thanks all!
PS sorry if formatting is bad, on mobile.
Submitted December 12, 2016 at 08:59PM by consumedbythefire https://www.reddit.com/r/edmproduction/comments/5i091c/anybody_interested_in_a_new_alternative_to/?utm_source=ifttt
Javier Rodriguez
Monday, December 12, 2016