Some risk
SoundCloud
Summary
Audio publishing and distribution platform with social features.

Type of organisation: Privately-owned company (or group)
Market share: One of the leading products (#3-7)

Pricing: Free-$16/month or $144/annum
Factors driving pricing: Additional features
Skills needed to set-up: Plug & play (any non-technical user can do it)
Skills needed to use: Plug & play (any non-technical user can do it)
Requires audience sign-in to use: No, sign-in is optional
Pros
Open Source alternatives available
Releases new features regularly
Transparent pricing model
Clear data policies
Allows data deletion
Cons
Newsworthy business issues/challenges - SoundCloud Reverses Course ⁠— Upload Limits Aren’t Changing After Users Revolt
Newsworthy technical issues - October 2019: SoundCloud down
Lacks accessibility statement
Does not share diversity data

Full Product Data Collection

Data collected January-February 2020

Product nameSoundCloud
Product URLhttps://soundcloud.com/
Parent organisationN/A
Workflow categoryPublishing & distribution
Date product founded2008
Product descriptionAudio publishing and distribution platform with social features.
What type of company or organisation is the product owned by?Privately-owned company (or group)
Is the company profit-making?No, loss-making
How is this product funded?Subscriptions, VC investment
What market share does the tool have?One of the leading products (#3-7)
Is there an Open Source alternative in this product space?Yes. Funkwhale, Audius
When did the company last release new features?December 2019: Lossless audio support for all users.
Have they shared details of the product roadmap?No
Is there talk of the product raising further investment?No
Is there talk of the product being acquired?No
Have there been any newsworthy business issues or challenges in the last 12 months?SoundCloud Reverses Course ⁠— Upload Limits Aren’t Changing After Users Revolt
Is there a pricing model listed on the website?Yes
How clear & transparent is this pricing model?Very: full pricing listed
What is the range of prices offered?Free
Pro: $16/month or $144/annum
What factors drive higher pricing?Additional features
What skills are needed to get this tool set up & usable?Plug & play (any non-technical user can do it)
What skills are needed to USE this tool day-to-day?Plug & play (any non-technical user can do it)
Does this tool use proprietary file formats for saving documents & outputs?Defaults to common open standard file formats
Is the product reliant on 3rd-party APIs or interoperability to function?No
Have there been any newsworthy technical issues in the last 3 years?Yes. SoundCloud down
How clear is the Terms of Service for users (i.e. publishing customers)?Technical, legalistic TOS
Does the product have a data collection & usage policy on its website? (Can be a GDPR statement)?Yes, comprehensive.
Is their data policy “GDPR everywhere”?Yes, GDPR compliant globally
Does the product require your audience to sign-in to use it?No, sign-in is optional
IF SIGN IN REQUIRED: Does audience sign-in use 3rd party platforms?No 3rd party auth, just a user account
Does the public product website mention how to export or transfer your data to another service?No / cannot tell
Does the public product website mention how to delete your data?Yes: for both publisher and audience data
Have there been any newsworthy security breaches with this product in the last 3 years?No
Does the company have an accessibility statement on its website?No / cannot find
Does the company release information on the diversity of the workforce?No