I'm a big fan of Hip-Hop music -- underground rap in particular. For me, SoundCloud is a great way to discover new artists (all music genres are represented though). However, it is also a great way to connect with musicians that I am already a fan of. Unfortunately, as great as the service is, sharing music from SoundCloud was never a great experience -- this is a shame, as music is meant to be communal. Today things are changing. SoundCloud announces that it has enabled Google+ music sharing.
"We're always excited to develop new ways to make it easy for you to share and hear sounds everywhere. So we're happy to announce today that we're working together with Google to make it easier than ever to reach your audience by sharing sounds to Google+", says SoundCloud.
The music service further explains, "we've leveled up our integration. Share any SoundCloud URL to your Google+ circles and the widget will appear, automatically in the post... that also means that you (and your followers) can play sounds from SoundCloud within Google+: no need to open up a new tab".
This is a game-changer for the service and major artists have already started taking advantage on their own -- Pearl Jam, Snoop Lion and Armin Van Buuren to name a few.
Since I am an avid SoundCloud and Google+ user, I decided to try it myself. One of my favorite rappers, the beautiful Apani B Fly MC, has been active on the music site lately. I started listening to her new song "#1 Sound" and decided to share it with my Google+ circles. I simply selected the "Share" button and selected Google+. Like magic, the song was now posted on my profile. The song can be played from within Google+ -- no need to follow a link to another site.
While this new feature is amazing, SoundCloud leveraging Google+ for its benefit is not new -- in May, the service enabled Google+ sign-in. SoundCloud artists and listeners alike should be happy that the service is not resting on its laurels. Constant improvement should be appreciated.