A Comment about Soundcloud

I really like Soundcloud. But I’ve noticed that the same number of people who aren’t following me is about the same number of people who don’t have any tracks. To be fair, there are a few people who follow me who don’t have tracks, but I know these people personally. They are friends, or I have talked with them by email or through the SC messaging function. So I know they are legit.

But people with 0 tracks are suspect. And, although you don’t necessarily need to have a profile photo, accounts without profile photos say to me that they might be scammers that don’t care about being part of the community, only getting followers. Finally, if your handle doesn’t match your personal information, like, for instance, if your handle is John-John, but your personal information says your name is Carol, and the profile photo you do have is of a carburetor, that’s suspicious. Zero tracks but 1307 followers? That’s suspicious too. And BTW, a picture of your ba-donk-a-donk isn’t going to keep you in my follower list.

Just like anything that involves people, there are perpetrators.

I have a high degree of respect for people who create and share what they create. The thing is, creating a track is work. Soundcloud is a workplace. And as in any workplace, you don’t want to be dragging the deadweight of people who don’t take what they do to heart. I know there are probably people who like my interviews and follow me but don’t have any tracks. I want to apologize to you folks if I unfollow you. There is just no way for me to know who listens and who doesn’t since most people who listen don’t comment, and Soundcloud only gives aggregate numbers, not specifics. If you do listen, let me know. And give me the chance to see what you love to do too.

Unfollowing people, the advisors say, is always risky for the reasons I’ve just explained. You could lose good followers in an effort to do housekeeping. If that’s true, guess I’m about to find out how many.