SoundCloud

SoundCloud is a global online audio distribution platform based in Berlin, Germany, that enables its users to upload, record, promote, and share their originally-created sounds. According to the company’s data, in December 2014, the service attracts more than 175 million unique monthly listeners, while content creators upload about 12 hours worth of audio every minute. Founders Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss are the chief executive officer (CEO) and chief technical officer (CTO), respectively.

History

SoundCloud was originally founded in Stockholm, Sweden, but was established in Berlin in August 2007 by Swedish sound designer Ljung and Swedish artist Wahlforss. The founders initially aspired to allow musicians to share recordings with each other, but the concept later transformed into a full publishing tool that also allowed musicians to distribute their music tracks.

A few months after inception, SoundCloud began to challenge the dominance of Myspace as a platform for musicians to distribute their music by allowing recording artists to interact more nimbly with their fans.

Aphex Twin

Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known by his alias Aphex Twin, is an English electronic musician and composer based in London. He is best known for his influential and idiosyncratic work in electronic music styles such as IDM and ambient techno in the 1990s, for which he won widespread critical acclaim. He is also the co-founder of Rephlex Records with Grant Wilson-Claridge.

Initially releasing acid and techno records as AFX and under other aliases, James's first received widespread acclaim for his 1992 album Selected Ambient Works 85-92 and his subsequent 1993 release Selected Ambient Works Volume II. He rose to mainstream popularity with his 1997 EP, Come To Daddy and his 1999 single "Windowlicker". Taking a 14-year hiatus following the release of his 2001 album Drukqs to mixed reviews, James returned in 2014 with a new album, Syro, earning him critical praise and a win for Grammy Award for Best Dance/Electronic Album.

History

Early years

James was born in Limerick, Ireland, but he grew up in Lanner, Cornwall, UK, with two older sisters, in a "very happy" childhood during which they "were pretty much left to do what [they] wanted". He enjoyed living there, feeling apart from nearby cities and the rest of the world. James attended Redruth School in Redruth, Cornwall, and claimed to have produced sound on a Sinclair ZX81 (a machine with no sound hardware) at age 11: