Sounds Rising
OK you guys, I officially made it in tech life. No, my app didn’t get funded. No, my startup didn’t go public. But I was on Laughing Squid!
How could it be that my little name appeared on the front page of one of my favorite tech blogs?
It was from a track I posted on the new link board for music called The Drop.
This is a very-easy-to-use, Reddit-style aggregator that works with
SoundCloud links to enable bedroom DJs to post all types of electronic music. The post page lists guideline No. 1 as “EDM only,” but that’s a scary term for many music lovers. And with 20 categories of genre to check below, including future house, bass, deep house, hardstyle, chill, remix, techno, house and (my favorite) tropical house, I think this would appeal to more people without mentioning the freakish, not-exactly-even-music “E” word.
There are so many reasons I love this site, with the most obvious being it’s filled the gaping hole that Turntable.fm left as a cute way to discover new music curated by real people — mostly software smarties in Silicon Valley who love great music. It was glorious to try out music in there to see if you could get the entire virtual chat room/club bobbing. (Every time a user online starts bobbing their avatar’s head, it means they like the track.)
I’ll never forget the time I was up on the decks in one of the virtual Turntable. fm clubs — and the one and only SBTRKT appeared to listen in and get some inspiration. We went track for track for about a half hour, his little avatar bobbing its head to my selections and vice versa. It might have been the most epic day of my entire Internet life.
The fact that everything posted on The Drop is moderated means you are not just zoning out at work listening to a bunch of crap, which usually can be the case from a regular SoundCloud stream. This is hand-picked stuff from smart people, each trying to outdo the next in finding the ultimate track.
I’ve been an active member of The Drop since I heard about its launch in January. It was created by Justin Kan, the young entrepreneur who was catapulted to fame from his Justin.tv project, becoming one of the better-known people to broadcast their life 24/7. He would wear a camera on his head and stream it all. Viewers got to peek in to the world of a 20-something Silicon Valley investor, and it was quite addicting.
“I don’t think the music business is a very good business to be in,” Kan, an avid burner and music enthusiast, told TechCrunch in January.
This is more of a love project, one that he personally wanted. (With past investments putting the 32-year-old in the multi-million-dollar worth category, he can afford to offer us this gift.) There are no plans for this site to make money, he just wanted to fill the gap from other popular music sites, namely Spotify and SoundCloud.
I’ve been posting, on average, around 12 tracks a week, and I’m delighted to see any up votes or top posts in my favorite categories. It’s definitely making me a better DJ.
@SUPERCW
Christa Wittmier is “SUPERCW” on all social media. Find her on Snapchat, SoundCloud, Twitter, Vine and Instagram. By night, she is known as DJ SuperCW. By day, she is known as senior marketing director for Young’s Market Company of Hawaii. Her nightlife blog SuperCity runs every Wednesday on HonoluluPulse.com.
