# Keeping a repertoire on SoundCloud.



## Tice (Oct 11, 2020)

Has your SoundCloud repertoire ever resulted in a job/gig, new industry contact, or anything else that furthered your career? Have you had better luck with keeping a portfolio on a different platform? If so, which one?

I keep a collection of my tracks on my SoundCloud (https://soundcloud.com/user-275358929) but very little comes of it so far. So I'm trying to figure out what to change. Maybe the selection of tracks is working against me, maybe it's the order of them, or maybe the platform entirely. Heck, it might even be the background picture for all I know. The devil really can be in the detail sometimes.
So please discuss!


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## Kent (Oct 11, 2020)

Not for me, but I have some friends its proven pretty lucky for. This was a few years ago, though, so I'm not even sure if something like that is possible anymore.


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## kclements (Oct 11, 2020)

Yes, i used SoundCloud quite a bit years ago and got a couple of jobs/relationships from it. Lately, less because of all the noise. I’ve switched to Reelcrafter for all my demo needs.

one thing I might suggest is using Playlists. Group like pieces together. I would think people will find it more inviting than single tracks.


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## telecode101 (Oct 11, 2020)

..


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## kclements (Oct 11, 2020)

yes. That’s why I rarely use SC these days.


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## Mornats (Oct 11, 2020)

telecode101 said:


> does everyone else get spammed the moment they release anything on soundcloud like I do? or is this goodie reserved only for users with free accounts?


I pay for pro unlimited and get spam every time I put a new track up.


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## angeruroth (Oct 11, 2020)

A very long time ago SC was different but nowadays it doesn't really encourage meeting people nor collaborations.
I don't understand why the chats and groups were removed.
The bots are also weirder every day, but that may be a lost war.


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## Tice (Oct 11, 2020)

There've been some very useful comments here, thanks for that!
I've started to sort things into playlists. It's such a small effort, but might help. I agree on the absense of communication possibilities, it's a strange thing to have missing from what is essentially a networking and customer-attracting tool. The spam I haven't seen as much, though.

I'm also pondering if my repertoire is perhaps too diverse for my own good. I've heard it said that people want to be able to categorize you easily when considering if you're the right composer for the job. But I'm not sure if this holds up in practice.


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## J-M (Oct 12, 2020)

telecode101 said:


> does everyone else get spammed the moment they release anything on soundcloud like I do? or is this goodie reserved only for users with free accounts?



Every. Freaking. Time.


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## Haakond (Oct 12, 2020)

I have gotten one job from my SoundCloud profile, from a developer that contacted me after hearing one track I made. But I think most devs and directors find it easy to use it when they are checking out my stuff since you can make playlists on genres, full albums etc.


And yeah, the bots are so frustrating. And now it is filled with "single moms"...


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## Tice (Oct 16, 2020)

Having recently added another track, I kept an eye out for the spam mentioned here. I didn't get any. I feel so left out...


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## J-M (Oct 16, 2020)

Tice said:


> Having recently added another track, I kept an eye out for the spam mentioned here. I didn't get any. I feel so left out...



Hey, no worries...I recently uploaded a track and it has 2 plays. 2. Plays. Not like my tracks were ever popular or anything, but dear Lord the traffic has gone down on that site...


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## BassClef (Oct 16, 2020)

Just a hobbyist here... only use Soundcloud as a place to drop some music so friends and family can listen.


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## Tice (Oct 16, 2020)

Yeah, it's not the greatest of traffic generators. But as BassClef mentioned, it's a handy place to have a portfolio still. Their player embeds nicely on other social media, there's plenty of storage even on a regular account and I get the sense there's fewer people outright copying your content for their own page. (Though I might be wrong there)
Youtube, on the other hand, has certainly not been great on that last front.


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## J-M (Oct 16, 2020)

Tice said:


> Yeah, it's not the greatest of traffic generators. But as BassClef mentioned, it's a handy place to have a portfolio still. Their player embeds nicely on other social media, there's plenty of storage even on a regular account and I get the sense there's fewer people outright copying your content for their own page. (Though I might be wrong there)
> Youtube, on the other hand, has certainly not been great on that last front.



I've been thinking about ditching Soundcloud for Reelcrafter. I (mostly) do music for fun and I feel like I'm just wasting my time with Soundcloud, since it doesn't allow auto posting a track, the quality is terrible and there is no traffic. For portfolio purposes Reelcrafter looks cleaner, the audio quality is better and the free version allows 20 tracks, which is more than enough for me currently.


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## Kent (Oct 16, 2020)

J-M said:


> I've been thinking about ditching Soundcloud for Reelcrafter. I (mostly) do music for fun and I feel like I'm just wasting my time with Soundcloud, since it doesn't allow auto posting a track, the quality is terrible and there is no traffic. For portfolio purposes Reelcrafter looks cleaner, the audio quality is better and the free version allows 20 tracks, which is more than enough for me currently.


ReelCrafter is great! And continually improving!


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## Polkasound (Oct 16, 2020)

I use SoundCloud to embed my tracks into my websites, and that's where almost all of my plays come from. When I create a new release, I use email and other promoting to drive traffic to my website where the track is embedded. I'll bet less than 1% of my SoundCloud plays actually come through SoundCloud.


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## classified_the_x (Oct 16, 2020)

angeruroth said:


> A very long time ago SC was different but nowadays it doesn't really encourage meeting people nor collaborations.
> I don't understand why the chats and groups were removed.
> The bots are also weirder every day, but that may be a lost war.



groups were key in my promoting stuff back in 2011-2013... I also get some spam, and also got some legit opportunities but nowadays I'm wary because I always think it's spam when it comes from SC...

they shouldn't have removed groups... the spam is out of this world and depressing tbh


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## Sopris (Oct 16, 2020)

I get spammed every time I release something on Soundcloud. I've never gotten a job from SC but I do use it to host music on my website. 

Its definitely not what it used to be, however if you're looking to promote your music Spotify is the way to go.


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## BassClef (Oct 23, 2020)

Do you upload MP3s or .wav files to Soundcloud?


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## Tice (Oct 23, 2020)

I think it accepts either, but I always use .wav


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## NekujaK (Oct 23, 2020)

I use SC as a way to showcase examples of my work, with no expectation of getting plays thru SC itself - only via referrals that I explicitly send to potential clients. To that end, I only upload 30-sec clips, and they are watermarked.

I have a free account, so one of the side benefits of only uploading 30-sec clips is that I can get far more material uploaded than if I were to upload full pieces.


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## Polkasound (Oct 24, 2020)

BassClef said:


> Do you upload MP3s or .wav files to Soundcloud?



Always upload wav files to ensure an optimal conversion process. Uploading compressed files is likely to produce more pronounced artifacts like swirly treble.


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## GtrString (Oct 24, 2020)

Nope, I only use the private function, where you can upload and send a link to the music only for those you provided the link. Great for pitching purposes, and education, feedback ect.

If you need to display your music to the public, you might as well release it on streaming platforms.


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## Jerry Growl (Oct 24, 2020)

I have been (maybe very) lucky once. I was contacted through Soundcloud. I did find it very shady at first and was suspicious about my contact.

But it really did more for me than I could hope for already. That was two years ago. Really needed the confidence boost.

Then again, as a result of the financial boost I ended up investing more then it paid for. A self-sustaining hobby is what I'm at now. Almost self-sustaining... no not entirely true. Let's just say my wife stopped complaining about it .

If I would give one advise: keep developing, keep your 'repertoire' up to scale with where you are at now, and where you want to be.


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