Data AnalysisVerified
Reviewed and published by trentmaziarz, May 11, 2026. Discovered and drafted by our automated research pipeline.
SoundCloud uses an in-house AI system, built on technology from its 2022 acquisition of Musiio, to automatically analyze and tag music uploaded to the platform. This system identifies genre, mood, patterns, and other characteristics of uploaded audio at scale.
Details
Musiio's AI was described as able to 'listen' to music faster than any human, automatically tagging audio and enabling search and playlisting across SoundCloud's catalog of over 375 million tracks. SoundCloud has confirmed that Musiio tools are 'strictly used to power artist discovery and content organization, not to train generative AI models.' The technology powers downstream features including the First Fans recommendation system and content organization. Musiio uses deep learning and audio feature extraction trained on the audio signal itself rather than metadata or third-party statistics.
Products affected
SoundCloud platform (all users)Musiio B2B API
Sources & Evidence
News Article
Cite this record
Trace Foundation. (2026). SoundCloud: SoundCloud uses an in-house AI system, built on technology from its 2022 acquisition of Musiio, to automatically analyze and tag music uploaded to the platform. This system identifies genre, mood, patterns, and other characteristics of uploaded audio at scale (data as of 2026-05-11) [Data set record]. AI Trace. https://www.aitrace.org/r/practice/132029f4-952b-42bf-951b-7049d128cf6a. Accessed October 5, 2026.
- Stable link
- https://www.aitrace.org/r/practice/132029f4-952b-42bf-951b-7049d128cf6a
- Data as of
- May 11, 2026
- Last verified
- Not recorded
Other practices by SoundCloud
RecommendationSoundCloud deployed an AI-driven autoplay and discovery feed that recommends music to listeners based on their listening history, genre preferences, and user activity. The system surfaces tracks in playlists, autoplay queues, and personalized feeds across the platform.RecommendationSoundCloud deployed an AI feature called First Fans that automatically recommends newly uploaded tracks to listeners most likely to enjoy them, even before a song has accumulated any plays. The feature is available to Artist and Artist Pro subscribers on the platform.OtherSoundCloud updated its Terms of Service in February 2024 to include language stating that users agree their content may be used to 'inform, train, develop or serve as input to artificial intelligence' as part of providing the platform's services. Following public backlash in May 2025, SoundCloud's CEO issued a letter clarifying that no user content had been used to train generative AI models, and the company revised its terms to explicitly prohibit training generative AI on user content without opt-in consent.
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