SoundCloud has flipped the switch on its long-awaited transition into a pure-play streaming service.
The company has enabled “Stations,” a Pandora-like feature which reads your likes and loads up a playlist of similar tracks from its library of over 100 million tracks (but probably not DJ mixes!) in a constant stream.
The “Stations” feature is currently running in both the iOS and Android SoundCloud apps. After searching for a track or visiting a saved track in your collection, tapping the “Start Station…” selection from the menu will create a new “Station.” This “Station” remains accessible, saved beside your favorited tracks and user-created playlists.
You can start up a new “Station” by hitting the menu on the three dots next to any track, search term or stream.
SoundCloud has stated that the feature builds upon their “Related Tracks” stream, which identified relationships between individual songs in a way that was a step above simple keyword suggestions.
“Stations” is the first real user-oriented new feature to be introduced by SoundCloud in a long time – most of the others involved sops to the major labels or perks for producers trying to scratch out a few bucks. It’s believed to be the next step in the company’s long-term plan to re-orient their business model away from one that relies upon producers paying money to host files, to a model in which users pay money (or tolerate ads) to listen to them.
Previously: How To Be a SoundCloud Superstar, One Fake Fan At A Time.
mixcloud dot com