PeteF3 Posted February 11, 2016 Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 http://www.factmag.com/2016/02/11/soundcloud-financial-report-44m-losses/ Since this is site the major source for the majority of podcasts linked to on this forum, I thought I'd spread the word some here. SoundCloud is facing a $44 million loss last year despite striking up a partnership with Universal Music Group, and is going to be dependent on heavy investment and/or additional revenue streams to stay afloat. This may be totally premature, but it may not hurt for podcasters and musicians to be thinking about a backup plan now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradhindsight Posted February 11, 2016 Report Share Posted February 11, 2016 Thanks Pete. I have a contingency plan if there was ever an issue, and one hopes they'd honor their paying customers through the end date we are signed up for (giving us time to move and store our archive). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJRogers Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Thanks Pete. I have a contingency plan if there was ever an issue, and one hopes they'd honor their paying customers through the end date we are signed up for (giving us time to move and store our archive). I'd recommend a cost effective one that will allow for seperate feeds for each show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigelow34 Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Where would such an option exist? Most sites seem to charge per feed. Plus many people I have spoken with prefer a large feed with everything instead of having to subscribe to 15-20 feeds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveJRogers Posted February 12, 2016 Report Share Posted February 12, 2016 Where would such an option exist? Most sites seem to charge per feed. Plus many people I have spoken with prefer a large feed with everything instead of having to subscribe to 15-20 feeds. I"ll ask couple of network hosts whom have their "network" shows on seperate feeds, as they also have a dedicated catch all feed as well. It may be built into their site's costs then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted February 13, 2016 Report Share Posted February 13, 2016 A Wordpress-based solution would allow for multiple feeds but unified stats using Blubrry PowerPress. Dunno how hard migration would be, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted February 14, 2016 Report Share Posted February 14, 2016 Wordpress can't host or stream audio properly. I know this because originally Where the Big Boys Play was hosted on a Wordpress site which apparently had unlimited bandwidth. However, they kept complaining that the download traffic (especially from those trying to stream) was taking up too much bandwidth and essentially shut my site down without warning, gave me my money back and deleted the content. This is why we got the Sound Cloud account in the first place. You could use a Wordpress site to generate separate RSS feeds for each show that could then be subscribed to separately -- it will be more labour intensive and time consuming, but it can be done, I think* -- but this wouldn't solve the actual issue of hosting the audio content, which if we were to separate it all out just for PWO-PTBN shows would be something like 10 times the current cost. * Incidentally, PTBN is a Wordpress site, but it would take a lot of man-hours to make separate RSS feeds for every show. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bix Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 Wordpress can't host or stream audio properly. I know this because originally Where the Big Boys Play was hosted on a Wordpress site which apparently had unlimited bandwidth. However, they kept complaining that the download traffic (especially from those trying to stream) was taking up too much bandwidth and essentially shut my site down without warning, gave me my money back and deleted the content. This is why we got the Sound Cloud account in the first place. You could use a Wordpress site to generate separate RSS feeds for each show that could then be subscribed to separately -- it will be more labour intensive and time consuming, but it can be done, I think* -- but this wouldn't solve the actual issue of hosting the audio content, which if we were to separate it all out just for PWO-PTBN shows would be something like 10 times the current cost. * Incidentally, PTBN is a Wordpress site, but it would take a lot of man-hours to make separate RSS feeds for every show. What you're talking about is more about the hosting more than Wordpress itself (what hosting company were you using? some are notorious for pulling that kind of thing). Could still host elsewhere of course, but we're talking about if you were to lose SoundCloud anyway, so that's kind of my point. You'd have to set new feeds up, re-upload files, etc. You could do the same thing now with Soundcloud as the audio hosting, too; I hear feedback from people who want show-specific feeds somewhat regularly. Point is there are options. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JerryvonKramer Posted February 16, 2016 Report Share Posted February 16, 2016 I believe that the separate feeds thing would be possible even with our current setup. It involves setting up an RSS feed and then submitting that feed to iTunes. With Soundcloud all of this is currently automated, but it is possible to do it manually (I used to do it manually, and it took hours, and I'd also make formatting mistakes regularly). It would take hours to do, but it can be done and through Wordpress (point the link to the raw file on SC, the one you get from "download" button). The big feed would still exist, but you'd essentially have a duplicate copy on a separate feed. The real question would be if there is enough of a demand for that to make it worth the time. If SC goes down, it would be a different conversation. Because aside from having to re-up all of the audio, every single link on every single PTBN show page would need to be updated. We are talking around 500 shows, all-in. So let's hope SC pull through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RCS1988 Posted February 17, 2016 Report Share Posted February 17, 2016 It would be a complete shame if the PWO shows from over the years got lost, because of the sound cloud crisis. I don't count PTBN, since that's on podbean. The only shows I consider PWO-PTBN or PTBN-PWO are the shows that feature people from both brands on the same show. There is also the HOW feed, but they have been inactive on the PWO-PTBN-HOW Podcast Network. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bradhindsight Posted February 17, 2016 Report Share Posted February 17, 2016 Graham's HOW show was on the PTBN podbean feed - never its own. Great show, hoping his schedule allows a reboot of sorts this year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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