"Creep," SoundCloud and missed opportunities

I've been messing around with a new music-sharing service called SoundCloud that offers lots of promise but leaves me frustrated because I see a lot of missed opportunities.

As you may have read previously, I'm something of a hack audiophile, not the geekiest by any means but moreso than your average person who thinks the quality of MP3s is all that. So I was excited to test out a service that presents music in a visual way, with the song's audio map front and center (a completely new view for many people).

SoundCloud offers an easy way to share music, whether a link through social media, widget music players or by placing an actual song file in someone's SoundCloud Drop Box. Depending on the settings, songs also can be downloaded or syndicated via web players (such as are attached in this post). Musicians and record labels are starting to share more music in SoundCloud. It's especially popular for those creating electronica.

So here's where I think SoundCloud excels and where it could use some work:

• It's very easy to create personal playlists with one click on a song you like. Here's my list. And here's a set list of some fantastic '90s guitar pop by someone with the handle D-Waves.

D-Waves 90s Guitar Pop Mix by D-Waves

• I love the idea of being able to add comments at specific points in a song. For example, at the 3:40 mark of Devo's "Smart Patrol/Mr. DNA," I was able to comment on how I love the bridge that connects the two songs. My comment was simple, but could have gone deeper in terms of the mix, echo, etc. These can be the equivalent of audio footnotes, something musicians and fans contribute to add new dimensions to artwork. Sadly, the comments on most songs are junk (here are some for Them Crooked Vultures' "New Fang"). I know this kind of complaint makes me sound like the old man yelling, "Get off my lawn, you crazy kids!" I get that. But that lack of a filter is a serious flaw for me, the music geek.

Click to read more ...