Soundcloud alternative?

[Iron1]

Anyone have a good alternative to Soundcloud for music uploads? I've been bouncing off the max upload on my account for awhile and consider paying for unlimited uploads often, but they have so many issues I can't bring myself to support it financially.

Someone else mentioned just having multiple free SC accounts, or moving to Youtube, but those both bring an extra layer of hassle. #FirstWorldProblems

So, I figured I'd see if there was anything else out there I'm not familiar with...

 

[DrewJD82]

It’s not as easy as dropping a SC link in the media box, but after hearing how much SC was crushing the stuff I’d upload I started uploading stuff to Dropbox (but that’s also a paid account).

 

[Sleezy E]

Bandcamp

 

[fretworn]

The bing ai answer …

 

[Whizzinby]

Thread is relevant to my interests. I can A/B my tracks from the lossless versions uploaded to my Apple Music cloud library and the SC versions and SC just sucks all the life out of them. Some weird shit going on in the top end, and the entire thing sounds looser and fizzy.

 

[Iron1]

Unfortunately I don't think Bandcamp, Dropbox or any of the other suggestions replace Soundcloud.

 

[TravisG406]

Have you tried a dead drop? https://deaddrops.com/
Super lossless

 

[la szum]

Do I get credit for hipping everyone to how shitty SC is when it comes to audio quality? Meaning, lack of?




I don't know where there is a site that won't convert your hard-won tracks to some kind of dumbed down
mp3 version. Don't they all do that?

 

[la szum]

It’s not as easy as dropping a SC link in the media box, but after hearing how much SC was crushing the stuff I’d upload I started uploading stuff to Dropbox (but that’s also a paid account).

Dropbox does sound better. I think because you can leave an exported .WAV file in tact. SC and those other
sites are taking a .WAV and it gets converted to an mp3 for playback purposes.

 

[DrewJD82]

Dropbox does sound better. I think because you can leave an exported .WAV file in tact. SC and those other
sites are taking a .WAV and it gets converted to an mp3 for playback purposes.

I mainly have you to thank for that realization!

 

[fretworn]

I heard it immediately.

I do think there are ways to optimize for it though… However, it still takes the shine off the top.

 

[la szum]

It's awful. Lots of unhealthy and unhelpful compression going on. You can master
your track super hot and it is still going to squeeze it to fit the format.

It does makes sense on their end. As I would imagine they can't possibly store all the
tracks on Soundcloud in .WAV format. They have to compress them down to a smaller
format simply for storage purposes.

 

[Iron1]

Even if you upload an MP3, Soundcloud squashes it so bad with their crappy AI compressor/loudness function it just makes a good mix sound decent, a decent mix sound bad and a bad one sound horrific.

Not to mention the "get more listeners/followers/likes" spammers on there and the terrible playback mix algorithm. If I put my songs, and @TheTrueZoltan! songs and @DrewJD82's songs in one playlist, it's a given they'll force me to listen to some amateur EDM garbage uploaded by Rando wannabe teenage YouTuber, cause that's exactly what someone who listens to extreme metal meant to add to their playlist but clearly forgot.

 

[Sleezy E]

I try to keep my lufts around 12-13 and I don't hear much of a difference in my SoundCloud uploads

 

[DrewJD82]

I try to keep my lufts around 12-13 and I don't hear much of a difference in my SoundCloud uploads

I didn’t hear it for years, but, it doesn’t smash it in a way there’s a lot of distortion added, it does more to dull the overall sound. La szum had mentioned it a couple times but what did it for me was when I uploaded something to both Dropbox and Soundcloud, checked it on Soundcloud and then went to Dropbox and almost blew my ears out because it was so much louder on Dropbox. When jumping back and forth the differences were quite audible, to the point I was pretty floored by how much I didn’t realize it in the last 7 or so years I’ve used Soundcloud.

 

[la szum]

There are a lot of Radio Stations that have gone to using low-grade mp3s. The cymbals are always
a big tell for me.

 

[fretworn]

There are a lot of Radio Stations that have gone to using low-grade mp3s. The cymbals are always
a big tell for me.

It’s heartbreaking on your own mix … I’m already struggling for clarity

 

[FuzzyAce]

I've been considering going through Rumble. Not sure about the conversion quality though.

 

[Stone]

I use Audius its not perfect but its free and I can upload covers since its all i really do

 

[Iron1]

I use Audius its not perfect but its free and I can upload covers since its all i really do

This looks like it might be just what I've been looking for. Starting an account and uploading a few tracks now to see. What's your band name on there? I'll follow you...


Edit: It prompted me to post this -

I just joined @AudiusProject and uploaded my first track! Check out my profile here: https://audius.co/redvvinter




Here's the same song on Soundcloud: