User:Wyattjenkerson/sandbox

Lead Section
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website based in Berlin, Germany that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Started in 2007, by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, Soundcloud has grown to be one of the largest music streaming services in the market reaching over 175 million monthly users worldwide. Soundcloud offers both free and paid membership on the platform, available for desktop or mobile device. Soundcloud has influenced the music industry through the success of many artists who have emerged from the music sharing service. Artists on the platform are able to distribute their work for free that can be accessed by all users. Soundcloud has received support from many investors and other media platforms such as Twitter. Although the streaming platform itself has dealt with funding issues and has laid off many employees in order to remain profitable.

History
In spring of 2017, Soundcloud initially faced being sold after not raising the $100 million dollars needed to support the platform. The initial evaluation of Soundcloud at $700 million did not hold as strong to investors after their financial shortages. $169.5 million was raised in the fourth quarter of the year by Temasek and Raine Group to keep the platform afloat. Along with the investment there was a shift in the management, mainly with Alexander Ljung stepping down as CEO and Mike Weissman becoming the COO.

Music Industry
Soundcloud first entered the music streaming industry as a new way for artists to share and promote their music. Being that the platform is entirely online there is no need for a record label or distributor for one's music to be heard. Users and artists are placed into the platform together, creating a community focused space. The way that users are able to comment, like, and share songs and artists makes the platform feel more like a social media site rather than a streaming service. Many artists have moved from Soundcloud into the mainstream music industry because of their increased popularity from the platform. In 2018 the Grammys began to recognize artists and their music on Soundcloud. The shift from The Recording Academy was again due to the popularity of the platform and their artists, such as Chance the Rapper. Chance the Rapper is an example of a Soundcloud artists who broke the mold of the industry. Chance started out on Soundcloud with his mixtape 10 day and has never sold any of his music to this day. In a Vanity Fair interview Chance explained how he decided against signing to a major label and felt it was better for his to give his music "without any limit on it".

Soundcloud Rap
Through Soundcloud a sub-genre of rap was created. As artists such as XXXtentacion, Ski Mask the Slump God, and Lil Pump originated from Soundcloud and rose to the Billboard top charts. The sound created was different from the mainstream, with a grittier and darker sound that results from a lack of production. Soundcloud rap is a a lo-fi, melody driven, and distorted sound with lyrics that usually focus on repetition and less on content. The Soundcloud artists themselves are known to have big personalities with over exaggerated appearances that include bright colored hair and tattoos. These Soundcloud rappers range in the late teens to early twenties age with a strong youth following. Smokepurp, a Soundcloud artist, explained in a Rolling Stone article how the first songs he was creating and put on the platform weren't recorded using a real microphone. The DIY nature of Soundcloud made it so millions of artists were able to put out their work with out any studio equipment usually needed to make music.