User:Martina mixcloud/sandbox

Mixcloud
Mixcloud is an Internet radio platform that delivers streaming radio shows, DJ mix sets and Podcasts, also known as "Cloudcasts". It was founded in September 2008 by DJs and developers Nico Pérez and Nikhil Shah, and launched in September 2009. The service has grown rapidly in popularity to several million listeners per month and has been described as "the YouTube of radio". Mixcloud is based in London, with an additional office in Cambridge, UK.

Features
All audio content uploaded to Mixcloud is stored in the "Cloud" which users can access for free on-demand. Each cloudcast is given a unique URL, which facilitates a dynamic distribution of personal content by allowing users to embed Mixcloud widgets freely on other sites. Mixcloud is deeply integrated into social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter, making it easy to share, recommend, and discover Cloudcasts with friends. Anyone can upload content to Mixcloud, from amateur content creators to professional broadcasters and trendsetters and the number of listens, favourites and comments determines Cloudcast visibility, rather than fame.

A key feature of Mixcloud is that unlike other online platforms, Mixcloud offers a stream-only and licensed service. Mixcloud is linked up with royalty collection societies PRS and PPL to ensure that artists are paid for the copyrighted music that is contained in the Cloudcasts. No audio content can be downloaded from Mixcloud and every track in a Cloudcast is hyperlinked to music retailers.

In June 2011, Mixcloud launched its first iPhone app, which allows users to stream Cloudcasts on the go.

History
The origins of Mixcloud go back to Cambridge University, where Nico Pérez and Nihil Shah first met whilst respectively studying for degrees in Engineering and Mathematics. Together, the two students hosted a Hip Hop show on the university radio station Cam FM and founded the Cambridge University Breakdance Society. After graduating, they both became frustrated with the structure of available online radio services and with the dependency on file hosting services to post DJ mixes online. They both quit their jobs and started working full-time on the project with the help of university friends Mat Clayton and Sam Cooke.

Mixcloud initially catered for a dance-oriented music demographic, but with time it has to grown to incorporate several other categories of audio content, from jazz and world music, to comedy, business, and news cloudcasts. It hosts a vast and varied library that includes regular uploads by the BBC, The Guardian, This American Life, WIRED, Moby, DJ Premier, Mary Anne Hobbes, and Chris Coco.

Awards
Mixcloud have been awarded several grants by the UK Government's Technology Strategy board to work on projects in collaboration with Queen Mary University in London and the UK Radio Player Consortium.

The company was also awarded the TechCrunch Europas prize in 2011 for "Best Enterteinment, Audio, Video, or Music Startup".