Democracy & Justice- Jack Stewart

Week 3: The music streaming website Soundcloud has had a radical democratizing effect on the music industry. The top charts are no longer dominated by artists belonging to the same large music labels which had long decided who made it onto the radio and into the mainstream. Soundcloud has shifted influence in music from record labels and their talent scouts to independent artists and their listeners. There are many technical aspects of Soundcloud which have led to this transition. Arguably the most important of these aspects is the fact that anyone can post their music to Soundcloud for free, giving a platform to millions of terrible artists as well as incredibly talented artists who would never have been able to find success in the music industry of ten years ago. There are countless success stories of artists who were able to rise from poverty and achieve mainstream popularity by launching their careers on Soundcloud. Cousin Stizz went from being completely unknown and broke to hav...