The average person in the U.S. listens to approximately 28 hours of music in one week, according to a survey by Edison Research. That adds up to approximately 1,456 hours per year. Music is an important part of our everyday lives, and whether we listen to it on the radio, on our phones or on our own collections of old Taylor Swift CD’s, music is everywhere.
Throughout the past few years, access to music has increased in remarkable ways. I’m sure I’m not the only one who remembers dishing out 99 cents for a new Britney Spears single before iTunes raised the price another 30 cents. I love music but not enough to spend $1.29 to buy every song I like listening to. Luckily for me and 76 million other music lovers, SoundCloud was born.
According to their website, SoundCloud is a “music and podcast streaming platform that lets you listen to millions of songs from around the world, or upload your own.” This platform has grown so fast and will continue to compete with other music streaming companies such as Spotify and Apple Music.
SoundCloud is the best music streaming and sharing platform for many unique reasons. It can compete with bigger companies because it offers many of the same features such as, playlist creation, discovering new music and search ability. Though this may sound typical for music platforms, SoundCloud also brings many different abilities to the table. On SoundCloud, a user can discover local, new or unpopular music from artists all over the world. Unlike Spotify and Apple Music, SoundCloud is free to all users and helps make music even more accessible to those who share the passion.
Making a splash into the music industry can be difficult for artists without the connections and money that others have. SoundCloud levels the playing field by providing a space for artists of all backgrounds, incomes, lifestyles and genres to share their music to over 175 million global users a month.
Syracuse, New York native Post Malone posted his original song “White Iverson” in February 2015. Within one month, the song had over one million plays, helping Post Malone gain attention from many record labels. He eventually signed with Republic Records and has since climbed the charts faster than anyone could imagine. He has now released his insanely popular album “Stoney,” toured the country and played at festivals all over. His latest song “Rockstar” just hit No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart.
Many other artists such as Kehlani, Bryson Tiller and Kygo have come up through SoundCloud. The opportunities this platform provides to everyone from Post Malone to aspiring musicians in high school is what will continue to help expand and nurture the music industry for years to come.
Casey Pimentel is a 19-year-old mass communication sophomore from The Woodlands, Texas.
