Author : Lydia Castillo
November 03, 2016

Soundcloud Has Hidden The Repost Button. Why?

It has been an eventful several months at Soundcloud. From possible acquirement by Spotify, launching Soundcloud Go, and a pleasent turn in events when it reported a revenue of $28 million, the music engine continues to evolve as a whole and, most importantly, within its platform.

As of yesterday afternoon, we discovered the “Repost” button is now hidden. Although it’s rather easy to access, if you hit the “More” tab, it creates an inconvenience for up and coming artists who rely on reposts to get their music in front of new audiences.

The Soundcloud support team on twitter (@SCSupport) has been extremely busy responding to irritated users with this form response, “It’s currently an experiment, we’re trying to make the player less cluttered so there’s more space for new features.”

@m1k3c0p3 It’s currently an experiment, we’re trying to make the player less cluttered so there’s more space for new features. /G

— SoundCloud Support (@SCsupport) November 3, 2016

It may be an experiment to prevent less clutter from others sharing tracks (and to vacate space on the player), but it’s a feature that many, including ourselves, use regularly to showcase new artists and tracks we’d like our peers to hear as well. It’s also a crucial feature for artists, who rely on organic reposts by old and new fans alike for their music to reach more ears. While an extra two clicks that may not seem like much, anyone who understands the importance of “user experience” grasps the idea that the less clicks needed, the better. New users to the SoundCloud platform may also be unaware of the repost functionality hidden behind the “More” button, while those who may are now missing that constant visual reminder the “Repost” button provided when it was in plain sight.

We will learn through trial and error if the “Repost” button will remain hidden over time.