The advent of Soundcloud in many ways was heralded the death of music-oriented elements of Myspace, or at least the ones that worked for artists not signed to a major label.
Essentially a more streamlined and artist focused social networking site, SoundCloud has allowed musicians to get their tunes in the hands of possibly the most important people there are, other musicians.
Writing about SoundCloud now might be a little past it, they’ve already been praised to the high heavens for what they’ve done and they’re ability to stay up even as competitors like Virb.com and Myspace have collapsed to the wayside.
It’s amazing what a user interface that’s not complicated or bogged down will do for a website, especially if every DJ, label and musician is getting on board. It’s an easy way to get your tunes heard and to get stuff in the hands of labels and other artists /djs. Hell, I’m up there.
It’s the future of Soundcloud where things get interesting. DJs that have been using the site to upload mixes have been seeing them yanked as major and indie labels file DMCA requests, objecting to the use of their content within a DJ mix. Where does fair use end and copyright claims begin? Time will only tell.