SoundClick is a music-based social community. Songs can be streamed, downloaded in

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

format, sold through the store, or licensed to others. SoundClick compiles daily charts for various genres, based on undisclosed factors. The social-network offers profile pages with friends networking, photo, video, blogs, and user stations.

History

SoundClick was founded in 1997 by twin brothers Tanju and Tolgar Canli. The site initially worked with

RealAudio RealAudio, or also spelled as Real Audio is a proprietary audio format developed by RealNetworks and first released in April 1995. It uses a variety of audio codecs, ranging from low-bitrate formats that can be used over dialup modems, to high-fid ...

audio streams, and switched later to the now prevailing

file format for audio streams and downloads. SoundClick was incorporated in 1999 in California by law firm

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is an American international law firm that specializes in business, securities, and intellectual property law. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, the firm provides legal services to technology, life sciences ...

. In 2007, SoundClick launched its own

social network A social network is a social structure made up of a set of social actors (such as individuals or organizations), sets of dyadic ties, and other social interactions between actors. The social network perspective provides a set of methods for an ...

. Today SoundClick reports 4.5 million songs, 530,000 bands and artists, and over 4.5 million registered members. SoundClick is a

privately held company A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...

Features

Free music services

SoundClick allows unlimited upload of songs in MP3 file format. The songs can be offered as streams only, as free downloads, or they can be sold through the SoundClick music store. Songs can be licensed to others either under a free

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

license or under a paid license. The artist page can contain news, tour calendar, and information about their group/project.

Optional fee-based services

The most prominent of the fee-based service is the VIP service. It gives the artist more freedom in site design, the VIP page is free of advertisements. The songs can be uploaded in higher sound quality. VIP artists receive a discount for other promotional tools.

Music store

Songs can be sold through the site’s music store. While this service started with a prepayment system, it's now available with direct PayPal payments and no longer requires a minimum. The artists can sell their songs either as single songs or as MP3 albums. The price can be set by the artist. The artist keeps 85% for a sale through the site (90% for VIP accounts) and is paid weekly via

PayPal PayPal Holdings, Inc. is an American multinational financial technology company operating an online payments system in the majority of countries that support online money transfers, and serves as an electronic alternative to traditional paper ...

Social network

Users get their own profile page, where they can network with online friends. The page features photo albums, video uploads, blogs, and message boards. Users can create their own stations, where they can make their selection of SoundClick songs available to the public.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Soundclick American music websites American social networking websites Privately held companies of the United States Internet properties established in 1997