It seems reasonable that a company named SoundCloud would be vested in making audio a key component of the online experience. Thus, it's not surprising that company CEO Alexander Ljung has claimed that "sound will be bigger than video online."
The Berlin-based company has received $50 million in funding and expanded its reach across the Web, mobile and "partner widgets," according to a VentureBeat story.
"We want to unmute the Web," Ljung said in the story. "We think the Web is very silent at the moment."
Ljung and co-founder Eric Wahlforss created SoundCloud as a way to privately share a piece of music online and get feedback.
"We had both been tech geeks all our lives and were really into the whole social Web movement around the time of Flickr," Wahlforss explained in the story. "But there was no Flickr for music. There was nothing built for artists."
So the pair started SoundCloud as a tool for music creators. Today it is "the standard way for many DJs and music makers to send and receive music" and part of an online course at the Berklee College of Music, the story continued.
Sound, Ljung said, is an essential element to any video experience.
"If you want to stop being scared when watching a horror movie, you mute the sound," Ljung said. "Sound is the emotional carrier."
It's also easier to create online than video, he added, describing how he receives sound recordings, not traditional photos, of his cousin's new baby.
For more:
- VentureBeat has this story
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