SoundCloud Looks To Replicate Spotify's Success With New Discovery Tool 'The Upload'

IMAGE DISTRIBUTED FOR SOUNDCLOUD - ASAP Ferg performs at the #SoundCloudGo launch experience at Flash Factory, Thursday, March 31, 2016, in New York.  (Diane Bondareff/Invision for SoundCloud/AP Images)

SoundCloud is one of the most popular music services online, and it boasts millions of songs, most of which will never be played more than once or twice. That might change with a new program that looks to unearth the hidden gems that lay among the rubble in the site's massive and ever-growing library.

The Berlin-based streaming music service has just introduced a new feature called The Upload, which helps listeners catch the best of what has just been uploaded to the site. Thankfully, The Upload isn’t just a long list of tracks that any random artist has posted, as that wouldn't make for a very pleasurable experience. Instead, the new playlist surfaces some could-be great new tunes which might just be taking off.

This new feature also changes over time, depending on an individual user’s listening habits. If, say, one SoundCloud fan only uses the service to hit play on hip-hop tracks, the company claims that person’s individual version of The Upload will begin to sway in that direction as time goes on, serving them music they'll most likely be interested in.

The Upload should sound suspiciously familiar to those who follow the streaming music industry. Spotify was the first major player in the field to introduce customized, user-specific playlists on a massive scale that changed over time based on each person’s individual listening habits. Items on the world's streaming service like Discover Weekly and Release Radar could be described using the same language.

While The Upload might be essentially an exact copy of what Spotify has already done, it is difficult to fault SoundCloud for following in the company’s footsteps. Spotify gave playlists a new significance they haven’t had since they appeared online decades ago, and now millions of people discover some of their new favorite tracks via either human curated rankings or algorithmically-created lists. Playlists are some of the most clicked-on items on the streaming service, and the company continues to introduce new products, and other music players have been following suit. This is obviously an attempt to bring some attention to SoundCloud Go, the paid option the company launched last year, which hasn't drummed up much excitement since hitting the market.

SoundCloud could have a slight advantage here, as the service does feature millions upon millions of songs on its site that others do not. The streaming giant has been in business for a long time, and it now boasts well over 100 million individual songs, while competitors claim between 30 and 40 million titles. Theoretically, SoundCloud should be able to dig up some truly special pieces of music that other services can’t offer, though only a few discovery fanatics will likely delve that deep into The Upload.

Having said that, the photo shown as an example of what The Upload may look like on SoundCloud's announcement page displays new songs released by up-and-coming (but still well known) talents like Mura Masa and Charli XCX and gnash, both of which are prominently featured on every service, so this looks like the playlist might not go as deep as it could.
