By Rohit Agarwal, Chief Product Officer

Summer’s around the corner and we’re heating things up!  Read on for our latest launches and updates to SoundCloud. In case you missed it:

Buzzing playlists 

At SoundCloud, we know how much it sucks not to get heard if you’re an artist. That’s why we’ve launched Buzzing: fan-powered, genre-specific playlists, featuring songs based on genuine fan engagement. Buzzing Playlists showcase fresh tracks from the best up-and-coming Next Pro artists in a starter pack of genres → Pop, Hip-Hop, R&B, and Electronic.

Buzzing is a key part of our commitment to helping newly uploaded music from our creator community get heard by real listeners in real time!

For Next Pro artists, Buzzing playlists are a chance for Creators to show off their best new music and find future fans. For listeners, it’s a way to discover the tracks and artists other fans are connecting with in their go-to music scenes. For A&Rs and industry professionals, it’s a cheat-sheet for who to keep an eye on.

Learn more about Buzzing here.

New track tags

Listeners will now be able to easily identify which tracks have been newly uploaded. 

At SoundCloud, one of our goals is to support the fan discovery of artists’ music right after uploading. That’s why we’ve added a new label to easily spot fresh tracks that are less than 1 week old.  

If you’re on iOS, keep an eye out for the “NEW” label on playlists, profile pages, and on the ‘home’ feed. FYI, this feature will be coming to Android soon.

‍Profile completion cards 

We believe connecting through music is a powerful human experience. On SoundCloud, you can add a display name, picture, banner, bio and so much more to your profile. 

Communities thrive with completed profiles because self-expression enriches the connection process! Going forward, we’ll be using suggestion cards on iOS to nudge all of you to complete your profiles. 

Help the SoundCloud community find you by completing your profile page today.

Liking tracks on lock screen 

We recently introduced a star icon in the lock screen player. 

Whether you’re listening to the new Buzzing playlist or your go-to mix, when you hear and see something you like, show it some love - from your LOCK SCREEN. 

‘You got playlisted’ notifications 

Every artist knows the importance of getting playlisted - it’s the exciting indication that your sound is resonating with real people and reaching your FANS. But in the past, creators weren’t properly notified when their tracks were featured on a playlist. 

Following last month’s launch of the “You Got Playlisted” email, we’re now sending in-app notifications to artists when their tracks get added to one of our editorial playlists and/or when they “ascend” onto our SoundCloud Charts. 

Crossfade on web

As we continue to improve our web experience, say hello to CROSSFADE, our innovative tool that allows users to experiment with our new track interface. 

Check out the video here to see a breakdown of the rebuild of soundcloud.com, the challenges we’ve faced along the way, and the creativity and collaboration we use to overcome those up-hill moments .

Self-serve takedowns 

Historically, artists had to open a support ticket if they wanted to take down a distributed release. This process was slow and tedious for artists and our support teams.

Now, artists that have distributed a release can request that a release gets taken down from DSPs directly within the “Distribution” page in SoundCloud For Artists.

Stay tuned and make sure to follow us at @SCSupport for the latest.