SoundCloud wants to make it easier to find must-listen tunes buried deep in its catalog. TechCrunch notes the company has bought Musiio, an AI music curation company. The firm's technology uses AI to "listen" to songs, tag them and slot them into playlists. Ideally, this improves the chances of discovering tracks you like, whether they're from an established artist or a new bedroom DJ.
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing
website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio, as
well as a digital signal processor enabling listeners to stream audio.
Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud has
grown to be one of the largest music streaming services in the world and
is available in 190 countries and territories. Audience-wise, there are over 76 million active monthly users, with
over 175 million global users that SoundCloud reaches, as of November
2021.
While its competitors report having roughly 70 million tracks in their
systems, SoundCloud supersedes this with over 300 million. SoundCloud offers both free and paid memberships on the platform, available for mobile, desktop and Xbox devices.
The companies didn't disclose the terms of the deal, but said Musiio would "become core" to SoundCloud's discovery system. Musiio will still offer its technology to other companies.
The two haven't revealed their exact plans or an integration timeline. However, it's easy to see advantages for both SoundCloud and listeners. The company could use Musiio's AI to spot a breakthrough artist before a label or rival service poaches them. It might also increase play counts for many songs and convince indie performers to stick around. You, meanwhile, might listen to more varied playlists and discover a breakthrough song before it reaches the charts.