Amidst the seemingly endless barrage of negative SoundCloud stories that have surfaced in the past year, we’ve finally got some good news to share about the platform. SoundCloud has announced one of its most important — and desperately needed — features to date: algorithmic-based music discovery. The new feature, titled ‘Suggested Tracks,’ will aid users in finding new music by studying their personal tastes and making algorithmic suggestions based on the data.

One of the hallmark features of other streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music, it’s a natural move for SoundCloud, and frankly, something that should have been implemented a long time ago.

SoundCloud said of the feature:

Suggested Tracks makes use of our state-of-the-art machine learning algorithm to deliver fresh new music and audio suggestions based on your likes and plays on SoundCloud – refreshing frequently with tracks you won’t find anywhere else. The more you use SoundCloud, the more the algorithm learns and perfects itself, day after day.

The new tab is accessible on the home page through the ‘Discover’ tab at the top. Sorting through SoundCloud’s massive user library of 125 million tracks, it offers a curated selection of new music for you based on your previous listening habits. Various playlists are presented, each building off a particular track you’ve favorited on the platform. After some initial tests, we’re happy to report that, at least functionally, it works like a charm.

While the music discovery benefits are clear for the average user, the feature also holds great potential in democratizing play counts for producers and turning new fans onto lesser known artists.

Check out the feature here.

 

Tags: soundcloud

Categories: News