Buying Soundcloud 'plays'

[petekelly]

Got a spammy message directing me to this rather bizarre soundcloud 'automator':

http://www.xorbots.com/soundcloudautomator.php

Buy their software and increase your audience (so they say). Why would anyone want to do this ? what can it possibly achieve ?

[petekelly]

Taking this a bit further, what do people think about Soundcloud regarding getting any useful feedback on their work ? I see mostly comments of a overtly positive nature such as 'great track' etc., which surely isn't informative / instructive for anyone ?

I've had a fair bit of 'real' communication via Soundcloud's messaging system and it's always nice to hear genuine comments from people, but when I see artists with zillions of followers and comments and the likes of the above 'products', it makes me wonder.

[El culto]

It´s like anywhere…artists want to be loved and admired even they know those responses very often are just blabla or simply based on to leave a comment for a good will. For many artists it´s like a mental masturbation to feel valuable IMO.

i believe its a problem in today´s communication ability - You can see it even here on the board…when a discussion gets more "spicy" (and interesting) you have right away those ultra sensitive chaps who feel personal insulted by other peoples opinion. So, for most it´s more save and comfortable to echo the opinion of majority or to participate to those speaking in an "intellectual" way (even their speech is completely on the surface).

So, for me all this "liking" you describe is just a "fashion" in a world where most people are scared to express their real opinion in public, especially if they are in minority.

Greetings,
Tomas

[Castleview]

I think Soundcloud had a great idea with the way they implemented listener feedback but in practice, it does not encourage constructive feedback. Fans aren't usually going to give that kind of feedback anyway. They'll tell you which parts they like but otherwise, they're not usually going to tell you how to improve but then again, why should they?

[petekelly]

I think that sc is used most succesfully (in my opinion) just as a audio storage and player combination these days - a very useful place to link to. Using it to get honest constructive feedback hasn't really worked and the numbers game has become more important for some artists - hence the buying of false stats and the like.

The kind of feedback that I'm seeing could lead some artists to be in some kind of totally positive 'bubble' and they may start to 'believe the hype', so to speak.

Tomas, I'm not sure if your comments are entirely relevant to this thread, they are observations on a wider social networking issue. I still think this forum is one of the few places where frank discussion can take place.

[El culto]

Pete, i think it´s  relevant as all those issue can´t be separated…..the forum issue was just an example, but if you look in a more open view, it´s all connected to each other.

As I said:

"It´s like anywhere…artists want to be loved and admired even they know those responses very often are just blabla or simply based on to leave a comment for a good will. For many artists it´s like a mental masturbation to feel valuable IMO."

For me this connects very much to your original question (" I see mostly comments of a overtly positive nature such as 'great track' etc., which surely isn't informative / instructive for anyone ?"

Greetings,
Tomas

[Castleview]

As an aspiring ambient musician, I agree with the points made so far. I've found it hard to get constructive feedback. It's not that I don't appreciate the positive feedback but sometimes, I'd like something more than just "good track".