# Using SoundCloud for your music



## Yogi108 (Jan 29, 2016)

Hello:

I was wondering what others do with regards to posting their musical compositions on SoundCloud... I've posted a couple of mainly piano pieces in their entirety on my account, but I've run into quite a number of SoundCloud members who only post an excerpt of their pieces. 

I know a couple of months back there was that one guy who was discovered to have taken people's music (I think mainly from SoundCloud?), added a couple of layers of other sounds and sold the music as his own. I don't know what happened with litigation and such, but I can only imagine and hope that those who's music was taken, were able to bring justice to that scenario. 

That being said, it seems like rendering excerpts of one's music might help with jerks like the one mentioned above from taking full musical ideas and stealing them.

On another related note, I have quite a bit of musical sketches that I haven't posted, being that they are incomplete. I guess another benefit to doing excerpts would be the ability to share these additional sketches to show a broader range of musical styles and genres. The idea here is finding a client who might find an excerpt to be of interest for a project... 

Any thoughts, experience or feedback is greatly appreciated. 

Rod


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## Yogi108 (Jan 29, 2016)

Thanks for sharing your perspective Jieff! I am not too terribly concerned about my pieces being stolen... But part of me wonders if for those who are more invested in their music as their main source of income if there's another resource that they use to share their music with a larger audience. 

Great point about the sound quality being low and the fact that, at least on an exposure level, the more the merrier. In an age of information where music and other content is so easily available... part of the challenge for everyone is finding the right balance between openness and being able to make a living from our creations.


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## jacobthestupendous (Jan 29, 2016)

You don't have to go too far back to find some posts from folks who are not so ambivalent about tracks being stolen. 

Either way, I've heard it recommended that you just post excerpts to show off your range more efficiently, and it seems prudent to do it this way. Decision makers are busy people and don't have time to listen to three minutes of track to get to the climax and hear what you're capable of.


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## hummingbird (Jan 29, 2016)

Besides the worry in regard to some people 'stealing' music from soundcloud.. I have also heard that some end-users (libraries, publishers) would rather your music has not been streamed on sites like soundcloud and youtube.. however you can post your music privately on soundcloud and even set up private playlists should you wish to send a link to one or more tracks.


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## Yogi108 (Jan 29, 2016)

Great points you guys. 

I plan to start posting some excerpts soon. Like hummingbird mentioned, if I wish to share the full track in the future, I'll post it privately on soundcloud and then send it out on a case by case basis... 

Anyone using logic know of a quick way to create excerpts of tunes? I'm guessing the easiest way would be to open up automation and do a fade in and fade out on the stereo out for the part that will then be sent to SoundCloud. If anyone has any other tips on this, let me know! 

Thanks again gents! Hope you're having a great start to your weekend!!


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## jacobthestupendous (Jan 29, 2016)

I'd just set the loop region to what I want the excerpt to be and bounce just that part. If you want to fade in and out, you could add a track for the master to add that automation and just delete it when you're done bouncing.


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## Yogi108 (Jan 29, 2016)

Perfect! Loop is a perfect alternative. Thanks @jacobthestupendous


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## Christof (Jan 30, 2016)

Actually there is an illegal site that mirrors your soundcloud pieces by an algorithm.
It has nothing to do who you are and how good or bad your music is.
Anyway, I wouldn't worry at all about that, as it was said earlier, the sound quality is not on a professional standard.


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## Dean (Jan 30, 2016)

Yogi108 said:


> Hello:
> 
> I was wondering what others do with regards to posting their musical compositions on SoundCloud... I've posted a couple of mainly piano pieces in their entirety on my account, but I've run into quite a number of SoundCloud members who only post an excerpt of their pieces.
> 
> ...



Just do your thing,upload your music and dont worry about it.I have unedited music on SC too and almost all of it has been re-uploaded without permission to endless sites by trailer music fans or as mp3s,people have even made (terrible) covers(some selling them on itunes)...some have been used unofficially in videos and on and on it goes,...yet it has made absolutely no difference at all,...if something significant happened to some of your music then you'll end up hearing about it anyway,most of it is nickel and dime stuff way below the radar.

re sketches: my advice is upload finished music only and to keep your sketches private like a pool of ideas and themes that you can delve into when/if needed. You mentioned _'finding a client who might find an excerpt to be of interest for a project_'...personally I dont think thats the way to go,a client might be interested in you because of your music but generally the last thing a client wants is an existing unfinished piece of music thats not bespoke to their project. D


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## Yogi108 (Jan 30, 2016)

Thanks for your input Dean. I can see your perspective when it comes to keeping musical themes or ideas private as a pool for future projects. I guess there are a number of different levels of finished vs unfinished. The pieces I am thinking of posting on SC have most of the instrumentation and the main themes done. I think just thinking about what to post will help me to go back and either let them out onto cyber world for now or, what I think will actually happen, force me to put the finishing touches and 'finish' them. Either way, one of the challenges that I think most creative people come to deal with is the tenacity to work through pieces and, at times, the need to finish and move on. I guess for me, I'm working through both and I'm humbly treading through that process.


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## Vin (Jan 30, 2016)

Soundcloud is a convenient platform, but I stopped using it because it completely destroys audio, it's unlistenable. I always use Box, which doesn't compress audio, for sending tracks in .wav, .flac or 320 .mp3.


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