Giving back to the artist : SC101 & Spotify for Podcasters

Audio-Streaming platforms are a dime a dozen and they all do a pretty darn good job at bringing you your favorite audio content but amidst all this cut-throat competition, we see these streaming giants trying to make the artist's job easier because after all there would be no streaming without these creators. Last week, Apple rolled out it's sleek and powerful analytics platform 'Apple Music For Artists' out of its beta version and made it available to the masses. Following up to that, this week saw, Spotify announce a new platform coming out of beta, 'Spotify For Podcasters' and along with that, SoundCloud has decided to put out its SC101 Tutorial Series as a part of their creator education program.

SC101 Tutorial Series by SoundCloud

SoundCloud is a powerful tool, it has been around for a while and it's safe to say that it has become a big part of the music culture considering we have a whole genre named after them (look up "SoundCloud Rap") but it is very crucial that the artists on this platform know how to fully exploit the potential of SoundCloud tools and to help them out, the Berlin-based company has decided to deliver a new Video Guide called 'SC101' which is a 9 part series taking the viewer through the basic tools and tips that they'll need to establish themselves on the platform. While it is just a short how-to video series, the company plans to host offline events and demos around the world that will help the artists even more along with the release of a part-2 of the series that will be coming out later this year which will cover more advanced topics like monetization and distribution. Including topics like - 'Setting Up Your Profile', 'Learn how to kick start your music career', 'Sharing Your Tracks', 'Engagement On SoundCloud', 'Optimizing Your Tracks' and 'The Power of Stats', the series is now available to stream and can be viewed here.

Spotify For Podcasters Comes Out Of Beta

The Swedish streaming giant released the beta version of its Spotify for Podcasters application last year in October which is essentially Spotify for Artists but for podcasters and the program saw around 100,000 sign-ups but now, making to available to their huge creator-base of Podcasters, the analytics platform is now available to all of the users and provides vital stats like average listening times, episode streams, and total listeners. In the press release titled "Introducing: Spotify for Podcasters", the Swedish-born company says "You may not know their faces, but you probably know their voices—the creative forces behind our favorite podcasts. These creators from every corner of the globe make our commutes bearable, they give us the most insightful commentary, and they leave us asking if we can squeeze in one more episode before bedtime. That’s why we’re excited to announce a new platform coming out of beta, Spotify for Podcasters. It was built to empower you, the podcast-creating community, to continue innovating and sharing your work with the world. At its core, Spotify for Podcasters is a discovery and analytics dashboard. One where you can both submit your show to Spotify and dive deep into engagement and demographic data for your podcast, tracking things like average listening times, episode streams, and total listeners. With so many podcasts out there, it’s more important than ever that you have the data you need to help you understand and grow your audience. That’s exactly what your dashboard is designed to provide. Our hope is that Spotify for Podcasters will help you engage with and understand your listeners, find new fans, discover insights from your peers, and ultimately grow your career." The company has previously invested heavily in the podcasting business acquiring multiple podcast companies for an estimated cost of $400 Million and saw a massive 50% uptick in the global podcast audience at the end of their second financial quarter, so it only makes sense to see Spotify push the boundaries even further in the podcasting game by making this one of a kind tool available to its users.