Soon Ill Be Loving You Again Instrumental Soundcloud

Five years at SoundCloud

Reflections on music, gratitude and vulnerability

Wall of memories at SoundCloud HQ in Berlin.

Today is my final day at SoundCloud. I'll be returning home to LA afterwards dedicating five years at SoundCloud and spending 10 transformative years in the Bay Expanse. I debated writing and publicly sharing this postal service simply decided that in my electric current transitional state, now felt similar the right fourth dimension to share my reflections in my own words.

I met some incredible people through SoundCloud. I got to back up independent artists in my role. I was at the intersection of music and tech where I could see the progress that so many talented sound creators were making over time–recording in their bedrooms, uploading their first tracks, playing their get-go live shows, collaborating with their musical heroes, and taking on whatsoever challenge and opportunity with gusto.

During my time at SoundCloud, I deepened my appreciation for music. Music has been the cornerstone of my relationship with my family unit, particularly my older brother Paul.

Ah, to exist young again.

Growing up, he had a huge corporeality of influence on me; he was likewise the principal person who introduced me to music. My parents would drop us off at shows together throughout middle schoolhouse and high school all over venues in LA considering that was the merely way we were immune to enjoy live music at a young age–if we stuck together. My blood brother opened the gateways for me to explore music and get in touch with information technology on an even deeper level by writing about it, besides. I would sometimes interview musicians before shows with my old school mini cassette tape recorder and notepad.

Scribbled notes from interview with the band Murder by Death and a saved set list on a napkin.

Fast-forward to many years later and at present I'thousand the younger sister plugging my brother into what's up-and-coming. Having my brother's influence growing up translated into my beingness the friend who would as well naturally innovate my friends to new music. I'm the aux cord hog; I love introducing new ears to a sound I'm digging and supporting the people who push music civilisation and create from their hearts.

For all these reasons, I'g grateful for the opportunity I've had to embed myself completely into a community of people creating and sharing their music on SoundCloud. Doing what they love has been inspiring and has given me the courage to discover things nigh myself that I might have otherwise shrugged off out of fearfulness.

With my time at SoundCloud coming to a close, I wanted to share a glimpse of my journeying and what I learned about practicing gratitude and embracing vulnerability.

2011 SoundCloud Community Team in Berlin: Jami, Ed, Marie, Natalie and me / The "Fish Basin" All Hands meeting room at the first Berlin part

I joined SoundCloud in November 2011 as the platform's commencement US community manager at a time when the company had most threescore employees beyond Berlin, London and the newly established function in SF.

It took some time for me to land the job. When I practical in June 2011, I was initially rejected considering they were looking for someone more senior with community management experience. At the time, I was an account manager at a digital spider web agency, liaising between clients across the entertainment industry (everyone from The Killers to UFC) and our Design and Applied science teams to help go their websites, online fan clubs and stores off the ground.

Even after the initial sting of rejection, SoundCloud was magnetic, and I didn't want to give up. Knowing SoundCloud was on its way to becoming a staple for creators looking to pursue careers in music, I wanted to help play a role in making that happen. After 5 months of consistent follow-up and two sets of interviews later, I got the golden ticket to join the 'Cloud.

Community: Edifice blocks

Check out my SoundCloud, fam.

With no prior community direction experience, my commencement instinct was to reach out to as many individuals every bit possible across dissimilar subcategories of communities within the SoundCloud ecosystem–emerging rappers and instrumental hip hop producers, binaural audio recorders, classical composers, singer-songwriters and more. I would go down the rabbit hole, reaching out to creators of all kinds to say how-do-you-do, learn who they were and why they had joined the customs, and what their aspirations were.

I thought about the sometime music forums I would participate in and applied the same criteria to SoundCloud in that I was a peer, diving into the community headfirst. Along the style, I found the courage to share sounds too — as 1 example, I recorded random bits of noise like this back when the record button existed.

All it took to make a connection was a comment on a track or a private message, to say "Hey, it's Jane from SoundCloud…" and spark an interaction and connection.

These interactions too fueled the community engagement activities nosotros ran back in the day:

Customs engagement activities and programs throughout the years: Fellowship, Heroes, Global Meetup Day

• SoundClouder of the Day, a serial in which a random SoundClouder was selected and featured daily in an effort to encourage positive community date. The Community team would congratulate them via sound letters for beingness selected, similar this 1 I sent to Cologne-based instrumental hip hop producer [Flitz&Suppe].
• SoundCloud Heroes, a community administrator program where community members would organize meetups and online collaborations and activities like Audiobiography. We held a weekend elevation in SF for the outset 10 Heroes who flew in from all over the US.
• SoundCloud Community Fellowship, a plan in which 15 sound creators received a grant from SoundCloud to use towards the creation of a sound projection across a three-month menstruation. Some of these projects got their start through the fellowship and went on to get honor-winning podcasts similar DecodeDC and Here Be Monsters.
• SoundCloud meetups and Global Meetup Day to promote offline connections within local communities

For me, a unproblematic hullo goes a long mode, and the little things matter. That's been the crux of my customs direction experience: taking the time to connect with people and to exist personable and open. Letter-writing was something that also flowed from my time on the Community team when I would write messages to customs members, stuffing them into swag packages.

Letters on letters on letters.

Taking the fourth dimension to compose from the centre and write messages past manus is a personal touch that I've wanted to impart as a way to say a) I'g a existent person, b) real people work at SoundCloud, and c) thank you for being office of the community. I have an affinity for writing, having always journaled since babyhood and having a former life equally a journalist and news author throughout high school and college. Plus, I'm a carte-writing aficionado on the side.

These relationships I built throughout the variety of Community Appointment activities and programs concluded upwardly building toward the next phase of my time at SoundCloud on the Content team.

Artist Relations: Growing and maturing

In 2014, I moved into the Content team as an Artist Relations manager to primarily support independent artists. This congenital on the experience I had working largely with independent creators while on the Customs team. Over the past two years, my role has been to back up the contained artist customs through the On SoundCloud Premier program and continue to brand connections with new artists to figure out how to best back up them on SoundCloud and contribute to their growth.

One of my favorite, definitive memories was the collision of my work on Community and Content at SXSW in 2014. In guild to foster as much of the community vibe every bit possible, I helped build out the daytime showcase lineup, adding everyone from erstwhile SoundCloud Heroes like acoustic singer-songwriter Cyra Morgan to people that were on the come-upward like hip hop collective Ago and electronic producer Marking Redito.

SoundCloud Clubhouse at SXSW 2014

Independent artists are a massive role of what makes SoundCloud unique. I adore their force, courage and creativity to continually push forrard in the face of obstacles and unpredictable challenges every bit they endeavor to navigate their mode through the music industry.

I accept learned a lot from them and am humbled by their stories and the passion and grit they accept to acquit forth and proceed creating.

Practicing gratitude

Practicing gratitude is key non merely in building individual mindfulness, only also strengthening relationships with others. Past sharing support and love with one another, only skilful things can blossom. Inquiry also shows that practicing gratitude leads to experiencing more positive emotions, better sleep and even stronger immune systems.

Our journeys are our own to define. Merely at that place are people along the style who help u.s.a. become to different places in our journey, who encourage and teach the states something, whether in small or large ways.

I'thou grateful for the many people–family, friends, colleagues, community members–who have devoted their fourth dimension to back up and encourage me to continue powering through despite challenges that inevitably happen.

I have gratitude for this experience in doubly identifying that music is a beautiful affair that brings people together. At the end of the day, after all the things are counted and the product pushes are out, we are here for the music.

Thank you to all the old SoundClouders of the Solar day for showing honey and fostering community since the beginning.

Give thanks you to the SoundCloud Heroes across the earth who dedicated their time and energy to lead community activities and be beacons of inspiration to those in their network and beyond.

Thank you lot to the 2012 Customs Fellowship members I had the honor to help shepherd to create sound projects and limited their creativity.

Thank you to all the SoundClouders who attended Global Meetup Day in the early on days to see beau SoundClouders in person.

Thank you to all the creators on SoundCloud I've had the pleasure to support and connect with in any small or big way.

Thank y'all to all the creators on SoundCloud I didn't have the opportunity to directly support just are continuously pushing their audio and building their audience. I hope to connect with you soon.

Thank you to independent artists like Chance the Rapper and Little Simz who are redefining what it means to exist successful and are grinding away for their present and future, for the community and for the civilisation.

Thanks to all the producers and engineers similar JRich who have connected me to a growing community of producers and engineers. You all deserve so much beloved and spotlight. On this note, if y'all are a producer and you're interested in sharing your story with more people, get in bear on with me on SoundCloud.

Thank you to collectives similar The House who stay truthful to their Chattanooga roots and push hip hop forward.

Thank y'all to online collectives and labels like Soulection that are embodying the spirit of community and creating a movement on SoundCloud and beyond.

Thank you to all the artists who accept broken out like GoldLink that I had a chance to support at the beginning of their careers.

Thanks to all the artist managers like Kei Henderson and Cameron Rath who are putting their support, fourth dimension and heart into an creative person because they believe in the person and their music.

Cheers to all the leaders in A&R like Tunji Balogun who have a close ear to the footing and are helping develop the next emerging artists.

Thank you to all the booking bureau reps, promoters and festival throwers like Trillectro who are earthworks on SoundCloud to give artists a live platform and fans a chance to vibe.

Thank you to special individuals in music that I randomly met on this SoundCloud journey who have go supportive, inspiring friends and mentors to me, especially Mark Redito, Josh Blossom, Jacq Schneider, Hashemite kingdom of jordan Caldwell, Vatana Shaw, Amir Abbassy, Rikki Blu and Free P.

Thank you to the SoundCloud team for the opportunity to exist resilient and piece of work hard through changes and ultimately hone in on the passion I accept for music and connecting with people.

Give thanks you to my family and friends for being there for both emotional support through trying times and concrete support in the form of helping me send boxes and cloth for events like the Artist Forum (shoutout 아빠) and building out swag numberless (shoutout Ry).

I missed a lot more folks to shout out here, simply know that I'k grateful for your back up and connection in whatever path we shared.

Embracing vulnerability

Vulnerability is backbone. Equally author and inquiry professor Brené Chocolate-brown defines it, vulnerability is "uncertainty, adventure and emotional exposure."

Sometimes, we demand to stand up in the discomfort of uncertainty. Creativity, belonging, authenticity and beloved are uncertain, merely they're worth doing and showing up for. If we didn't, great ideas and creations would not exist.

Vulnerability is everywhere on SoundCloud — through people having the courage to upload their work for the world to hear, whether first uploads, works in progress, concluding tracks, or whether in pursuit of a hobby or a career.

Trusting your process is a way to embrace vulnerability. I've learned this from the leaps taken past artists I've seen emerge on SoundCloud, particularly contained artists. Riding the moving ridge and finding the good in unexpected changes all fuel our growth to nurture what'southward important, zippo things that don't work, and ultimately, strive to elevate us closer to being our authentic selves.

Self-care and self-honey are the courage of trusting your process and who y'all are, whatever it is that your goals are. We don't take to have everything figured out correct away, but nosotros tin can kickoff somewhere.

I've learned to embrace my own vulnerabilities and take chances on me, to remind myself that it starts with doing this for me and to be authentically myself. I am grateful to have absorbed this learning in particular as I move forward in my own journeying outside of these SoundCloud walls.

What's adjacent? Keep in touch

I'm moving back down to LA and getting back to the blank page of writing for now.

If you'd similar to keep in touch on and follow my feel riding out the post-SoundCloud moving ridge, I hope you'll subscribe to my newsletter. Every now so, I'll share some words, tunes and random bits and pieces beyond the Net that inspire me and/or spark vulnerability, courage and self-love.

In October, I'll be attending the 2016 A3C Festival & Briefing in Atlanta to participate in a mentor session for artists and producers. Subscribe to my newsletter or follow me on Twitter where I'll share more information before long.

I'm also on SoundCloud all the time and so if you're an artist, producer, any kind of sound creator actually, feel free to drop me a private message in that location if you want to go far touch.

If this post sparked something, you're too welcome to achieve me via email or LinkedIn.

Be kind to yourself and celebrate how far you've come up. Yous are destined for greatness.

p.s. *Bonus* if you got all the style down hither: The SoundCloud San Francisco office mailbox.

Special thanks to former SoundCloud colleagues and wonderful friends Catt Small , Clem Breslin and Diana Kimball for their guidance, input and editing support for this postal service.

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Source: https://medium.com/personal-growth/five-years-at-soundcloud-90eb7ddfe9ef

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