Soundcloud is dead ... what's next (for Cross)?

[DJ Vintage]

It's clear to just about anyone that soundcloud is behaving like a groupl of Lemmings. Just running at the cliff with the full intention of running OFF the cliff when they get there.

People are losing stuff, there is all kinds of issues and quite frankly if you are on Soundcloud you should get off when the getting is still good. And if you are not on soundcloud, don't bother going there anymore.

So, where does that leave Cross, which has it as only link to an online music service, I wonder?

While we all know that whatever service you use (even Premium Spotify) you are NOT allowed to play the downloaded music in any public way. Just not legal. So all these "online integrations" are only good for music discovery with the added option of trying to mix a track you like in your DJ Software right away without having to go through buying it first, prepping it and such.

Just find it, load it into your deck and play with it. If you like it, THEN you can go and buy it and run it through your new tracks workflow as usual.

I doubt any kind of streaming will become legal for public consumption any time soon. And if these integrations are primarily for discovery purposes, wouldn't we be better off with integrations with, for example, BeatPort Pro? Or Apple Music? With a handy "buy track now" button for when you like the track.

I am really curious to see what direction Mixvibes will take with this. Hopefully they won't wait til the last bits of Soundcloud have fallen and the software is left with a non-functional feature.

What are your thoughts?

[RoJeC]

I guess it wil be back to good old FTP...
- bandwidth can be restricted to keep device running
- most personal NAS can be set as 'cloud'
- no sharing trouble (several public service share similar file with multiple users and have trouble handling things like change in tagging)
- holds your own collection

But it might be to easy for some...

[rhopkins]

I didn't know that about Spotify and public places.

I'm sure all those cafes, pubs and restaurants that are quite clearly using Spotify have a business account.... https://www.soundtrackyourbrand.com/

[RoJeC]

Every country/region may have a different method, but in the Netherlands businesses that play music (not just cafes) have to pay an annual fee to one (or some) organizations that handle this part of the rights.
Can't tell if all do but pretty sure the coverage is over 90%.

So pretty sure if you use a right full source the public play is covered as well. It would be pretty logical that Spotify (or such) doesn't want to get involved in issues and by default restricts it to the level they can somewhat control.

And of course many companies use a commercial 'music computer'.

I always have the customer arrange this part of the performance with the facility I'm asked to perform.

[Stormcaller]

Same in the UK. Venues usually pay money to the PRS and display a licence. That covers licensing for things like cafes that play broadcast radio to the seating area, performing bands in bars, DJs etc.

There are exceptions, such as bars that play special prelicenced music supplied on non-standard formats that require a special player, such as a CD in a cartridge (We became experts and getting different CDs into cartridges without breaking them), or in one of the bars I used to work in, cassette tapes recorded backwards (4 track tape recorders for the win )

[haga46]

Same in Belgium, they've got to pay an annual fee to SABAM

[djdubc]

this may sound obvious but how about mixvibes starting their own platform......