Upgrade to Upload

Good news for music lovers; popular music platforms are being upgraded this year. While SoundCloud is adding a new feature called ‘The Upload', Apple music will also be rolling out a new update for Android.

SoundCloud which is popularly called as the ‘Youtube of audio’ has launched 'The Upload' feature which can algorithmically generate playlists based on the user's listening habits. The feature is compared to the ‘Release Radar’ feature in Spotify, another digital music service which has had its eye on acquiring SoundCloud.

‘The Upload’ is already available in the ‘Discover’ tab on the web version of SoundCloud and in the ‘Search’ tab in Android apps and iOS. ‘Upload’ is actually the extension of another feature called ‘Suggested Tracks’ which SoundCloud had launched years ago. The highlight of Upload is that its playlist will be refreshed on a daily basis and creates a more personalised playlist.

“The more you listen to music on SoundCloud, the better ‘The Upload’ will surface new artists and music for you,” the company wrote on its blog post. In addition to The Upload and Suggested Tracks, other services on SoundCloud include Who to Follow, Stations (track and artist stations) and Charts. With this upgradation, SoundCloud which has 175 million users will be trying to convert more of them to paid tiers (the cheapest level of SoundCloud Go starts at $4.99).

SoundCloud has reportedly had trouble converting its huge user base into sustainable revenue. It is also trying to push the bar to make the platform an attractive place for creators to show off their work.

Keeping up with the idea of creating user friendly features, tech giant Apple too has updated its music platform. It also comes with revamped design and features such as on-screen lyrics. Apple says that the new design is aimed at adding simplicity and clarity to the app.

The 'Now Playing' section of the app can now show lyrics of the song that the user is listening to. The Library section has also been updated for easier navigation. The updated 'For You' section of Apple Music can now provide recommendations for playlists, albums and more, based on the users' music choices. Album art display has also been enlarged.