Streaming services have never faced tougher competition with each other than in a global pandemic, when the world’s population has been stuck at home rather than going out to live events. As Spotify, TIDAL, Apple Music, Amazon Music, and others introduce new features to keep users listening at home, SoundCloud has remained relatively the same.
In an effort to improve its autoplay algorithm that begins when you start listening to tracks, SoundCloud has brought on popular repost trader Elias Wagner to better predict what listeners like when they start listening. And in an odd turn of events, Wagner will continue working with his repost trading network while employed with SoundCloud.
When asked if this would create a conflict of interest, Wagner responded, “No, of course not. My clients who rely on me for repost trading and my employers at SoundCloud are very aware of the situation and I wouldn’t ever dream of mixing the two. There is absolutely no chance that I use my role as a reposter to influence what tracks pop up in the SoundCloud algorithm.” 
However, when Your EDM conducted an independent investigation, we found that out of 100 tracks played from a variety of genres, Wagner’s clients’ songs appeared within the next 5 tracks at least 78% of the time.
Your EDM reached out to SoundCloud for comment but haven’t heard back at time of publishing.
