New SoundCloud Pulse app caters to the creators

SoundCloud Pulse

SoundCloud has launched a new standalone mobile app specifically for audio creators. SoundCloud Pulse helps creators manage their accounts and communities. It has features such as sharing, replying to comments on tracks, and statistics on track performance.

For now, Pulse is only available on Android, but an iOS version is in the works. SoundCloud also teased future features for Pulse, such as more in-depth analytics, editing track information, track uploads, and broader messaging options.

SoundCloud has been making slow and steady progress as a go-to platform for music and audio creatives. Last year, it rolled out the On SoundCloud partner program, which offers monetization and revenue options for its premier tier. SoundCloud added independent agency Merlin as a partner for the program over the summer.

SoundCloud Pulse solves a pain point for creators, who lost Pulse-like controls when SoundCloud shifted the focus of its main mobile app, and the service as a whole, from a creator tool to a listening platform, starting in early 2013. The resulting phone app was re-developed as an elegant listening companion (one of the best, in our opinion), but lost the creator controls now packaged in Pulse. First buzz from the creator crowd includes snarky remarks about making amends (“Did SoundCloud actually listen to us?” one commenter gasped), general gladness to regain lost functions, and a wish for quick release on iOS to accompany the Android launch.

Anna Washenko