SoundCloud Adds Explore With Trending Music and Lean Back Discovery

by Clyde Smith (Twitter/Facebook)

Yesterday SoundCloud introduced Explore, a discovery feature that should help connect more listeners with artists using SoundCloud though a more prominent homepage position would be a nice touch. It's available on the web and on SoundCloud's Android app. No word yet on iOS availability but their iTunes listing promises "bigger updates" than their recent design refresh.

To be honest, I've been checking out music on SoundCloud for what feels like a long time, at least in internet years, but I've never thought of it as a place to discover new music. The discovery happens on blogs and other external sites where SoundCloud happens and then in the related channel where I then seek out similar tracks but the external discovery has always been at the heart of the experience for me.

So their new Explore feature, also available on their Android app, feels like a long overdue touch.

Explore offers:

trending streams for both music and audio

trending streams organized by genre

lean back listening by simply pushing play from the main stream or genre stream

Explore is a great look for SoundCloud which is not just an indispensable service for so many artists but increasingly a key part of music's infrastructure on the web and mobile.

Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (Twitter/Facebook) is building a writing hub at Flux Research. To suggest topics about music tech, DIY music biz or music marketing for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.

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