11 Reasons Why SoundCloud Will Be Dead In A Year

The music platform is on its last legs.

[I produce electronic music as LUCKYKAT and run Katnap Music in case you’re not interested]

RIP SoundCloud. Cause of death: suicide.

The music industry was crushed during the COVID pandemic. Artists could no longer play live in venues, bars or nightclubs. In many countries, even buskers were banned in fear of the virus being passed through the germs on coins.

As the majority of the world population returns to the new normal, we have seen how music artists, labels and social music platforms have adjusted to this.

Artists who couldn’t play live turned their attention online to livestreaming platforms like Twitch. They could connect with fans anywhere in the world, get tips and even charge for online shows if they had a devoted following.

Forward thinking labels turned to NFTs as a way to generate more revenue for the artists they were representing. They attracted sponsors to livestreams, exclusive online only festivals and drive thru concerts.

Social music platforms like Spotify added a way to donate to artists. TikTok has given creators a way to make money from livestreaming on their app. But sadly one big player has completely dropped the ball during the time when artists needed them the most.

SoundCloud was founded in Sweden (also where Spotify was founded) in 2007 and is now headquartered in Germany. It has 175 million unique monthly users yet has been gradually annoying its community members with a poor business model, upload limits, an unbearable number of spam profiles which are not managed, fake labels that spam your inbox and very little engagement.

Having used SoundCloud for a several years and having investigated what other users think, this Reddit thread accurately exposes what the company has been doing over the last few years. Here are 11 reasons why SoundCloud will be dead in a year:

1. One Hour Upload Limit

You can only upload 1 hour of music. That is only 20 songs at 3 minutes each. If you produce progressive house or techno where average songs are 5–6 minutes, you will have significantly less…