SoundCloud has been making plenty of recent news headlines regarding the future of the site. Most recently addressed was the possibility of streaming rival Spotify buying out the site. Now, SoundCloud has continued to make yet another wave by hiding the repost button.
The repost button is significantly important within the world of SoundCloud. Unlike big-name streaming programs like Spotify and even iTunes, any artist can post to SoundCloud, no matter how small. Many lesser-known artists begin establishing themselves in the music scene through spreading tracks via SoundCloud reposts. Being able to share so many different tracks by so many different people by just clicking a button is one of SoundCloud’s greatest assets.
And while yes, the repost button is still available – it wasn’t removed, just hidden – it’s no longer right in front of a listener’s eyes. The button now lies within a “More” tab, along with the option to “Add to playlist”. While longtime users will know the button is there and hopefully still utilize it, new users may not know how to repost.
Artists are understandably angry and have been voicing their opinions to the company. SoundCloud responded with, “We did this to make the player less cluttered and make space for new features that we hope to introduce in the coming months.”
@NanodeMusic We did this to make the player less cluttered and make space for new features that we hope to introduce in the coming months.
— SoundCloud Support (@SCsupport) November 2, 2016
This is not the first step SoundCloud has taken to alter the listening experience. The site released the “Suggested Tracks” feature in June, followed by the “Listening History” feature in October. SoundCloud also recently created SoundCloud Go, their premium service that gets rid of advertisements, but also limits the tracks available to free users.
Hopefully for SoundCloud, the changes being made are good ones.
H/T: Dancing Astronaut
