Roll20 and Soundcloud, no longer sitting in a tree.

[White Haven]

Late last night Roll20’s access to the SoundCloud API was shut off. Roll20’s growth has caused SoundCloud more than once over the past four years to question as to whether or not our integration of their service was within the intent of their API; previously we have been grandfathered in for additional use when SoundCloud changed their API Terms of Use in June 2015.

We maintain that the Roll20 community added to the SoundCloud community– be it the vast amount of tracks that were tagged for “Roll20,” the specific music created for use in our interface, or simply our own pride in spurring the discovery of and credit for sound artists via the Roll20 Jukebox dashboard.

If you want to let SoundCloud know you’re disappointed by this decision, please respectfully do so. Particularly if you are a music artist that has uploaded to SoundCloud with the intent of sharing it via Roll20, we appreciate you contacting them to express your displeasure.

We have no expectation of our SoundCloud API access being restored, and as such will be exploring additional audio services to bring to Roll20 users. As things stand…

Live now for just over a year is the content Tabletop Audio. They continue to add new, long-form tracks that make or a great background to your adventures.
We have recently signed a deal with BattleBards to bring their music to Roll20, so look forward to that soon.
While it remains a popular suggestion, we are uncertain about utilizing YouTube-as-sound on Roll20, as YouTube’s API specifically prescribes against audio-only uses.
Given Roll20’s strong record of avoiding DMCA Takedown notices, we remain hesitant to allow direct audio uploads, as the potential for misuse is too great.
The Roll20 Jukebox’s access to the SoundCloud API has been a fantastic boon to the free users of both services. While we are not yet sure what our future audio plans are, we feel like this is a part of the community and experience that has for the time being fallen beneath our standards. Know that we’ll be working on solutions in the weeks to come.

Well...balls.

[LadyTevar]

We were in the middle of Hotfoot's Monday Vamp game when this happened. He lost a ton of clips and music he used for not just the Vamp game but several other games he's ran via Roll20. Really shitty that they didn't even give users a chance to rescue their music before cutting access.

[Hotfoot]

Yeah, I'm rather incredibly annoyed. I use soundcloud files for everything from sound effects, background music, and even occasional joke bits like having Yakety Sax on command when things get stupid.

I get why Soundcloud might cut off Roll20, it's a big bandwidth expenditure with little to no gain for Soundcloud, but still.

But since I can't upload music or sound files to Roll20 directly (though I can go nuts with images), there's literally nothing I can do inside of Roll20 anymore. The jukebox has been utterly ruined. There are some good quasi-generic things on there right now and they're working on more, but no sound effects, no ability to get works for licensed games, nothing. It is a shadow of what it once was, and the only way I can even begin to work around it involves me having something to transmit through our voice communication software, but it's not the same.

Like how in Star Wars I had a map that was just an image of hyperspace that, when I switched the players to it, would play the jump to hyperspace sound, that's just gone. It's a minor thing, but it added to the atmosphere of the game.

[White Haven]

Music streaming company Spotify is reportedly in talks to take over $700m (£535m) rival Soundcloud.
The two sides are in advanced negotiations, according to the Financial Times.
The talks come at a time when competition in the streaming music sector is intensifying.
Sweden's Spotify remains the market leader but faces increasing competition from Apple Music and Amazon's recently launched music service.
German-based SoundCloud built its business by allowing artists to upload their music and share it with fans on social media and blogs.
It has established the company as an influential player in the music industry, especially in the dance music genre.
In March, the company launched a pay-for streaming service similar to the offering from Spotify or Apple Music.

The firm has failed so far to make a profit, but has Twitter as its most high profile investor.
Mark Mulligan, an analyst at consultancy Midia, has been blogging on the takeover claims.
"Soundcloud has been shopping itself around for some time, while Spotify needs to continue outpacing Apple as it heads towards an initial public offering."
But a deal would be "far from a guaranteed winner for Spotify" as Soundcloud's growth may have "peaked" in 2014, he says.
Taylor Swift, Beyonce and Kanye West

The competition between streaming services is heating up
Spotify, meanwhile, has seen its revenues reach €1.95bn ($2.2bn; £1.5bn) over the past year, but still has failed to make a profit.
The platform offers music over the internet for nothing, with advertisements or ad-free for a fixed monthly rate.
Apple launched its own music streaming service in 2015, while there are many smaller companies such as Rhapsody, Tidal or Deezer offering a similar service.
Spotify currently has 40 million paying subscribers, while next big player Apple Music has 17 million.

Reading between a few lines there, I'm not surprised that Soundcloud has a sudden, renewed expression at cutting costs when they're trying to look good for a buyout offer.