Radio.SC Turns SoundCloud Users Into Radio Stations

Guest post by Eliot Van Buskirk of Evolver.fm.

SoundCloud was originally designed to help musicians send songs (or bits of songs) to each other and their “people” within the industry. Maybe that’s why it still has so many users who seem to be either professionally, semi-professionally, or just obsessively involved with music. We hear SoundCloud even has a really cool Fletch ringtone among its many treasures, which include early mixes, remixes, exclusives, mashups, and other super fresh material from various excellent people.

The site has evolved into much more than the simple song-sharing site it used to be, however. You also use it to listen to music, whether by uploader, genre tag, the Latest chart, the Hot chart, or in any number of ways.

Now, with the help of a web app called Radio.SC, SoundCloud can even as a radio service that lets you listen to the taste of any SoundCloud user –assuming they have uploaded songs, favorited tracks, and generally used SoundCloud in more than a fleeting way. It’s easy — just enter in the exact SoundCloud username you’re looking for, or something close to it, and you’re up and running. Or, you can try a random SoundCloud user.

Radio.SC also stores the stations you’ve listened to previously (see screenshot), so that they are always a tap away. And although it is a web app, it runs on iOS, Android, and other smartphone and tablet devices. Whenever you hear something you like, you can follow the song or artist through to SoundCloud.

As for the music this app selects, developer Tom Price tells Evolver.fm that it “uses the information that SoundCloud has about who follows whom and who favorites which tracks, to intelligently select the music it plays.”

Sure enough, my station includes songs I’ve liked, and stuff I’ve listened too. This won’t become the only way you ever listen to music (what will, these days?), but if you’re a SoundCloud person or know lots of SoundCloud people, it’s a powerful way to flip a channel on in seconds and listen to someone’s taste.

To get you started, here are some notable SoundCloud users that I have turned into radio stations with Radio.SC for your listening pleasure, followed by a short list of Price’s favorite stations:

Forss (a.k.a. SoundCloud CTO Eric Wahlforss)

me (hey, why not?)