Monday, November 4, 2013
Soundcloud
As we have discussed, new media can be described as methods of sending messages through various media using technology. However, we have not gone into much detail about what forms these messages can take. Generally, when we think about messages being sent, we naturally think of written word, which makes sense. There are other forms though, such as images and sounds, particularly music. Soundcloud.com is a useful site for musicians to post their music to the internet for free, and it is a great tool for discovering and for being discovered. Soundcloud is somewhat similar to sites like Instagram, but with emphasis on music rather than pictures.
Soundcloud is a site for people to share the music they create, and they can choose to make that music private or public, downloadable or not, free or not, and they can have followers and/or people that follow them. Some of these features are similar to other sites such as Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, etc., but with an emphasis on music rather than some other form of art or even personal thoughts or opinions. There is an option to add a description to a piece of music being uploaded, and anything could be said within it, but this description is only visible to those who actively open the sound and look at its page.
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I have never heard of Soundcloud, but it seems as if it's similar to Facebook, only for musicians. This is interesting! When you say that it doesn't focus on personal thoughts or opinions, I think that's wrong. Don't we listen to music based on how we feel? If you want to clean your house, drive your car, do your homework, think about someone you care about, or exercise, isn't this indicative of thought or opinion? How would Soundcloud differ from FB? How would it be the same? How does Soundcloud have an impact on cultural values? It would be interesting to see how that turns out!
ReplyDeleteNice analysis so far. A few questions to keep in mind is:
ReplyDelete• Would you consider Soundcloud part of social media since it is similar to other social media websites?
• What’s the “message” of this medium?
To me, Soundcloud sounds like part of new media because musicians are able to express themselves. I’m a little confused on the last sentence. Are you saying that Soundcloud only uploads instrumental pieces from musicians? Or is a musician able to have lyrics within the song? If the piece is only instrumental, it would be a little harder to express personal thoughts or opinions, but music is an expression of an individual.
I think that this is a great idea to do your paper on Soundcloud! It is a different and unique kind of new media that is still expressive and shows different thoughts and ideas of the creators of each song.
ReplyDeleteI would go into more detail about how Soundcloud and another type of social media (i.e. Facebook, instagram, twitter, etc.) have both differences and similarities between them. Are there any relevant popular culture beliefs, values, attitudes revealed? Is there a specific demographic within Soundcloud?.. like college students, adults, famous people, etc. Lastly, is there a specific type of effect on people because of Soundcloud? Overall, good ideas and good description or what Soundcloud is!
Excellent introduction! You make it very clear what “new media medium” means and you are arguing well for using music as a different form of communication. Plus, it’s unique how you are utilizing a music website for Mcluhan’s quote. You described what the site is and now it appears that you need to analyze and explain the different ways in which this reveals the “messages.” Use the possible organizational strategy guideline paper for structuring and I think you’ll be just fine.
ReplyDeleteIt's super short, but it's got a good topic, and I think there's a lot of room for it to e expanded upon. Keep in mind as possible aveneues fro discussion thingslike:
ReplyDelete-What sorts of music tends to flourish/get popular on Soundcloud?
-What sorts of podcasts tend to become opoular on there?
-How does the tone differ from a lot of visual mediums?
But yeah, it's good so far.