There were various articles last summer predicting doom and gloom for Soundcloud before they were rescued. It was stated that the company which has not yet turned a profit only had 50 days of finance left. Soundcloud hasn’t changed noticeably yet, but I’m not convinced that they will remain in their current form because they need a business model that makes them profitable in the longterm, if they are to avoid hitting another crisis.  With that in mind, I did a little research into what alternatives there are to Soundcloud, looking into sites such as Clyp, Drooble, Musicoin and others.  There’s way too much to say on the topic for one blog post, so I’ve turned it into a series. These articles are aimed at musicians, but could be of interest to anyone who creates audio.

Clyp

Stoneygate’s Clyp Profile

Clyp has been around for a few years and aims to be an ‘imgur for sound files’.  You don’t need an account to upload (although it is sensible to have one if you’re on there as an artist); your account can be created by logging in via Facebook, so no need to set up a new account from scratch. On the free service, you get a 6 hour upload quota for mp3s, with 100Mb max per file uploaded, and the site hosts ads. Clyp is said to often be used by electronic music producers for posting beats, but it can be used for complete songs and mixes, also.

Listeners with an account can collect audio from other music creators to their own account’s page, and follow other creators.   The social side of the website and overall functionality is rather limited, however.

Pros 
-The ability to record straight to the site might be useful for some performers.
-Hashtag labelling for tracks and search function.
-You control whether your upload is public/private and can be commented on
-Website as well as app functionality. Share audio straight to Facebook & Twitter from the app.

Cons
-You can only give one weblink on the free service.
-There’s no like function, only the ability to save a track to your saved tracks.
-No playlisting or ways to organise large numbers of clips.
-No royalties or monetization possibilities.
-It’s not clear if you will see when someone saves or downloads your work.
-Limited app availability – iOS only.
-There doesn’t seem to be a way to post files from the mobile app that weren’t recorded via the app.
-Your music is unlikely to be found by other users – it’s not really geared up for music discovery.

Verdict:
I wouldn’t recommend using this site to try to get your music discovered. You may find it useful if you want to share work that you don’t want to publicise, however, or capture audio clips via iphone for later retrieval.