A few years back, Hypedit was a groundbreaking tool for ‘gated downloads’, producers reached larger audiences through free tracks in exchange for social media follows. Whole networks were set-up up on soundcloud specifically for gated tracks where new artists made their name through bootlegs and edits that grabbed the attention of DJs and label owners. Hypedit remains a popular tool but it’s clunkiness can be off putting (try scrolling through Hypedit charts to see what we mean).
A new contender dropped yesterday, a website called droploud. We have a strong suspicion this site was vibe coded just going by the look and feel but it has a clutter free UI and smooth UX (we’re not anti vibe coding, it’s just a lot of it is rushed, this clearly isn’t the case).
For users, droploud promises quick one tap downloads. For artists, instant follows and likes and a numbers based chart position. So far, so good. For the time being, it’s a free service for uploading tracks and downloading them. This may well change if the site gains steam and bandwidth requirements.
Everything looks appealing enough bearing in mind we’re not web devs! Setting up an account is simple, the audio clips stream well on small mobile devices. Downloading a track works similar to Hypedit-pick a track, add your email, sign in through soundcloud and download.
The discover and charts section is already well populated, granted it’s fairly typical material but it would be unfair to judge this early into the site’s growth. The fact that everything is free right now works in droploud’s favour. We are now firmly in the era of vibe coded DJ adjacent web tools. The process of building software for DJs has been democratised and that’s an exciting and equally perilous prospect.
Will droploud be a viable competitor to Hypedit? Time will tell. We’ll be keeping tabs on this one.