mixcloud.com
It can be difficult for one to truly differentiate themselves from the masses when it comes to streaming music. No longer is it enough to simply stream songs; now, you need to have some kind of unique edge in order to stand out. Something that nobody else has done before or at the very least something that's never been done before.
Some people have attempted to bring radio into the digital age by simply offering a live stream of local radio stations. And others have taken elements of the radio listening experience and embellished or improved upon them, making the most of them in the modern age. Some examples of this would include iHeart Radio or Pandora. They allow listeners to create customizable radio stations, tailored to their own unique taste and interests.
Traditional radio has been experiencing stagnant growth in the music streaming market, but fortunately there are still new sites emerging that offer a more innovative and fresh take on the radio format. One such site is that which goes beyond just streaming songs and albums, offering users interactive content and experiences that let them explore different genres of music.
I'm talking about the Mix Cloud site, of course. It's a British streaming service that found a new and interesting angle on the world of music streaming services.
Mix Cloud is a website that saves broadcasting shows in the radio show format. It has given this dying art form a place to flourish.
Mix Cloud is a platform that enables anyone, anywhere to tune into and broadcast independent radio shows from around the world. But we'll get more into what it actually does later on. For now, let's explore how Mix Cloud came to be.
History
Mix Cloud was founded in 2008 as a lean startup. The founders, Nico Perez and Nikhil Shah, met at the University of Cambridge. Shortly thereafter, developers Sam Cooke and Mat Clayton were added to the team.
Within five years, Mix Cloud saw a meteoric rise in users and active engagement. In October of 2017, they struck a licensing deal with Warner Music, which is a huge accomplishment. They are not showing any signs of slowing down and continue to grow rapidly.
Design
Additionally, Mix Cloud incorporates a rich comments system, so users can share feedback and thoughts on songs or artists they are following.
Let's see how I can most accurately describe Mix Cloud's site design. I think it is probably best depicted as a sort of cross between SoundCloud and Facebook. What I mean by this, is that Mix Cloud employs a gentle blue and white theme with a very prominent news feed at the front and center of all activity on the site. However, it is music-based and an audio streaming app, so when you click into profiles, you will find a list of playable audio which is very reminiscent of SoundCloud. Additionally, Mix Cloud incorporates a rich comments system, so users can share feedback and thoughts on songs or artists they are following.
The site is intuitive and easy to use, and especially for people who are already familiar with social networking sites and/or sites like Sound Cloud. The right of your news feed will have a few suggested people to follow. The more people you follow, the smarter these suggestions will become. To the left of the news feed is a site menu bar and user toolbox that consists of the following options: Feed, New Shows, Favorites, History, Listen Later, Playlists, and Trending.
No matter what you need to access on this site, you can do so quickly and easily without having to search for anything. That's great design in my opinion, especially on a site like this that can easily lead you down a rabbit hole. It's always nice to have a back door out.
Content
Mix Cloud is a music streaming service that caters to a very specific type of listener. If you are someone who likes to be in total control of what you are listening to at all times, from one song to the next, Mix Cloud may not be the right service for you.
Mix Cloud is a large online network and community of DJs, radio show hosts, podcasters, and listeners. If you think you have what it takes to put together a block of programming, be it mostly music or mostly talking, Mix Cloud is where you can put yourself to the test. See how many fans you can amass.
Mix Cloud is a great way for amateur DJs and podcasters to gain experience and make money. If you are talented and savvy enough, you could potentially finance your radio dream through Mix Cloud. So not only can people simply follow your page like a social media account, but if they really like what you do, they can subscribe to your content for X dollars per month (the broadcaster sets the price).
This is another great benefit to using Mix Cloud - it takes full advantage of the crowdsourcing feature, which is great news for DJs, hosts, and podcasters. But it's also great news for listeners because they don't have to pay for the service as a whole - they just have to pay for the content that they want to support.
Desktop and Mobile Experience
I think desktop experience is great. It's an intuitive site design that's not always easy to pull off, but with Mix Cloud you can easily just roll your Facebook account into it.
The app, while good-looking and easy to use, has many bugs and glitches. These detract from the listening experience and make it quite frustrating.
It can be difficult to keep your place in a mix if you pause it, since you'll lose all the tracks that came before and after the one you paused. This is a flaw that should have been fixed before the app even launched.
Pricing and Plans
The service Mix Cloud offers is a freemium model. If you want to use it without having to pay anything, then you are limited to just being able to seek forward in a mix and only be able to play 3 shows every 2 weeks. However, if you do decide to pay for the service, then you can avoid ads and have access to more features.
The Premium version of Mix Cloud, which costs $7.99 a month, allows you to see tracklists of radio shows upfront before you play them (something the free version does not allow).
Suggestions that I have for Mix Cloud
I strongly suggest that Mix Cloud fixes their app so that it is reliable and usable. I paid for this service, and I should not have to endure frequent glitches.
Moreover, I know that Mix Cloud is supposed to be all about radio shows, but it would be great if there were some way that I could also stream and download individual songs outside of actively listening to shows. You already have the deal with Warner, why not try and expand and see if you can get a decent catalog going? If I could just passively listen to Mix Cloud without ever having to switch over to Spotify, that would be awesome, right?
Popular search queries
