# SoundCloud Backstage Blog SoundCloud's developer blog. This is one page of public article previews, not the complete archive. Follow Next page to continue. Summaries are not the original full articles. ## One line of Python, and a 3x drop in p99 DevFeed: [One line of Python, and a 3x drop in p99]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2026-08-11T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [Latency](), [Back end](), [bug](), [cpu](), [API](), [Python](), [Code]() Tags: [ads](), [api](), [backend](), [bug](), [code](), [cpu](), [engineering](), [latency](), [logging](), [measurement](), [monitoring](), [performance](), [python]() ### AI overview The article describes removing one log statement from a service's hot path, which substantially reduced 99th-percentile response latency and CPU usage. The service supports ad-serving decisions through an internal API, and the investigation found that validation warnings and metric increments were being emitted for expected requests from fixed-policy callers that supplied no Bayesian posterior state. ### Source excerpt We removed one log statement from a service's hot path this week. Its 99th-percentile response latency fell from a steady to , and CPU... ## Less Is More: Why Audio on SoundCloud Looks Different DevFeed: [Less Is More: Why Audio on SoundCloud Looks Different]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2026-06-18T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [Compression](), [Optimization]() Tags: [audio](), [compression](), [engineering](), [optimization](), [streaming](), [transcodings]() ### AI overview SoundCloud explains why its upgraded AAC encoder applies a low-pass filter around 17 kHz. By discarding frequencies that most listeners barely perceive, the encoder can allocate more bits to audible content and improve overall perceptual quality, even though spectrograms appear to show a loss. ### Source excerpt Last year, SoundCloud upgraded its AAC encoder for the first time in over a decade. The new one (Fraunhofer's libfdk_aac) delivers higher... ## API Credentials from Your Terminal, and OpenAPI on GitHub DevFeed: [API Credentials from Your Terminal, and OpenAPI on GitHub]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2026-06-16T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [API keys](), [Node.js](), [App]() Tags: [ai](), [announcement](), [api](), [auth](), [command-line](), [github](), [json](), [llm](), [node-js](), [oauth](), [openapi]() ### AI overview SoundCloud introduced a terminal-based app-registration tool that authenticates through a browser, returns existing app credentials when applicable, and requires Node.js 18+. Its OpenAPI specification is now available in the public GitHub repository for code generation, offline use, and AI-assistant context. ### Source excerpt In May we opened self-service app registration for Artist Pro subscribers. That fixed the browser flow. Two requests kept coming up anyway... ## Vibe Coding with SoundCloud: Announcing New Docs for your Agents DevFeed: [Vibe Coding with SoundCloud: Announcing New Docs for your Agents]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2026-05-18T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [Vibe coding](), [ai-coding](), [API](), [API keys](), [Large Language Model](), [AI Agent](), [App](), [Programming]() Tags: [ai](), [ai-agent](), [ai-coding](), [announcements](), [api](), [app](), [code](), [developer](), [developer-resources](), [docs](), [llm](), [vibe-coding]() ### AI overview SoundCloud announces updated documentation for vibe coding and AI-assisted development, including self-service generation of Client IDs and Client Secrets for eligible Artist-Pro subscribers. New resources include a hub for building with AI on SoundCloud and an LLM Context Page intended to give coding assistants structured, accurate platform knowledge. ### Source excerpt Have you ever had a brilliant idea for a music app, a custom playlist curator, or a unique way to discover underground tracks on SoundCloud... ## Moving to Modern Streaming: Introducing AAC HLS on SoundCloud APIs \[Deadline Extended\] DevFeed: [Moving to Modern Streaming: Introducing AAC HLS on SoundCloud APIs \[Deadline Extended\]]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2025-09-15T00:00:00Z Content type: release Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [Streaming](), [Playback](), [Transcodings](), [API](), [migration](), [Availability](), [HTTP]() Tags: [announcements](), [api](), [apis](), [audio](), [availability](), [github](), [http](), [improvements](), [integration](), [migration](), [streaming](), [transcodings]() ### AI overview SoundCloud is introducing AAC-based HLS streams through its APIs to improve audio quality, playback consistency, and device support. The new hls_aac_160_url and hls_aac_96_url fields will replace existing MP3 and Opus stream URLs, which are scheduled for removal on December 31, 2025, while preview_mp3_128_url remains available for preview use cases. ### Source excerpt At SoundCloud, we're always looking for ways to improve the listening experience for our creators, partners, and listeners. One of the... ## Action required: Upcoming Update to SoundCloud API id fields DevFeed: [Action required: Upcoming Update to SoundCloud API id fields]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2025-04-29T00:00:00Z Content type: release Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [SDKs]() Tags: [announcements](), [api](), [data](), [developers](), [responses](), [update]() ### AI overview SoundCloud is deprecating numeric API resource IDs in favor of stable string-based URNs. Integrations should migrate to the urn field by June 30, 2025 to avoid degraded behavior or API failures. ### Source excerpt To all developers using SoundCloud's public API -- we're introducing an important change that will affect how you reference resources like... ## New artist name field on our API DevFeed: [New artist name field on our API]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2025-04-03T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [API]() Tags: [announcements](), [api](), [devices]() ### AI overview SoundCloud introduces an artist metadata field in its API. For user-uploaded content, the displayed artist comes from this field when provided, otherwise the user's profile name is shown. ### Source excerpt A while ago we made an improvement to how track and artist information is displayed on SoundCloud, making it clearer and easier to... ## Upcoming changes to SoundCloud Access Tokens DevFeed: [Upcoming changes to SoundCloud Access Tokens]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2024-12-02T00:00:00Z Content type: release Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [App](), [Database](), [data]() Tags: [app](), [auth](), [data](), [database](), [engineering](), [integration](), [oauth](), [update](), [updates]() ### AI overview SoundCloud access tokens will transition from opaque strings to JWTs. Apps that store tokens must accommodate variable token lengths and avoid relying on token format. ### Source excerpt tl;dr: If your app doesn't store SoundCloud access tokens outside of the context of a user's client (i.e. a database) the following should... ## Migration to Oauth 2.1 DevFeed: [Migration to Oauth 2.1]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2024-04-23T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [migration](), [OAuth](), [Protocol (disambiguation)](), [Authentication](), [Security](), [API](), [OAuth 2.0]() Tags: [api](), [auth](), [authentication](), [authorization](), [code](), [developers](), [engineering](), [guide](), [migration](), [oauth](), [security](), [updates]() ### AI overview SoundCloud is migrating its developer integrations from OAuth 2.0 to OAuth 2.1 to improve security. Existing OAuth 2.0 integrations must be updated by October 1, 2024, and PKCE is required for securely exchanging authorization codes. ### Source excerpt Earlier this year, we updated our API Guide to let developers know that SoundCloud authentication is now operating on the OAuth 2.1 protocol... ## Android Large Screen Optimization DevFeed: [Android Large Screen Optimization]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2023-07-31T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [Large Screen](), [Android](), [Optimization](), [ui](), [User Experience](), [Google](), [samsung]() Tags: [android](), [app](), [google](), [large-screen](), [music](), [optimization](), [samsung](), [screen](), [ui](), [user-experience]() ### AI overview SoundCloud describes how its Android team optimized the app for tablets, foldables, and Chromebooks. The article covers the reasons for investing in large-screen support, music-listening scenarios, UX and UI changes, and implementation considerations, drawing on Google and Samsung guidance about scalable images and responsive, dynamic layouts. ### Source excerpt Large Screen Devices - The New Frontier SoundCloud large screen optimized Recently, the Android team at SoundCloud took on a project to... ## An update on our API: Changes to access for inactive apps DevFeed: [An update on our API: Changes to access for inactive apps]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2023-06-02T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [API](), [Security]() Tags: [announcements](), [api](), [blog](), [developer](), [optimization](), [security](), [support](), [update]() ### AI overview SoundCloud announces temporary changes to API access, including revoking access for some inactive apps. The company cites limited developer support and the need for stronger oversight against abusive API activity, while planning additional security mechanisms and a redesign of its API program. ### Source excerpt We're working on improving our API offering. In order to do that, a few changes are coming: We need to revoke access for some of you with... ## What I Learned in One Year as an SRE Trainee DevFeed: [What I Learned in One Year as an SRE Trainee]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2023-01-06T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [SRE](), [Production Engineering](), [Infrastructure as code](), [Monitoring](), [Incident response](), [Kubernetes](), [migration](), [datacenter](), [Cloud](), [Google]() Tags: [cloud](), [data-center](), [engineering-culture](), [google-cloud](), [incident-response](), [infrastructure-as-code](), [knowledge-sharing](), [kubernetes](), [learning](), [migration](), [monitoring](), [music](), [production-engineering](), [site-reliability-engineering](), [sre]() ### AI overview A Site Reliability Engineering trainee at SoundCloud reflects on a first year spent learning how SRE applies software engineering to operations, reliability, and scalability. The article discusses the broad scope of the role, including Infrastructure as Code, Monitoring, Incident Response training, Kubernetes upgrades, infrastructure decommissioning, and a service migration from a data center to Google Cloud. ### Source excerpt I recently celebrated my one year anniversary as a Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) trainee at SoundCloud. Looking back, I had very little... ## What's New with SoundCloud, November 2022 DevFeed: [What's New with SoundCloud, November 2022]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2022-11-11T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [User Experience](), [Android](), [iOS](), [App]() Tags: [android](), [app](), [apps](), [ios](), [music](), [updates](), [user-experience]() ### AI overview SoundCloud describes November 2022 updates to its iOS and Android apps, focused on user experience improvements. Changes include new creator subscription names, dedicated spaces for playlist and album descriptions, smaller carousels, simplified sharing controls, a creator-profile display bug fix, a revised comments background, and fewer Home-screen subtitles. ### Source excerpt We recently made updates to our SoundCloud iOS and Android apps to address key user experience (UX) fixes according to user feedback. We'll... ## What's New with SoundCloud, October 2022 DevFeed: [What's New with SoundCloud, October 2022]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2022-10-17T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [User experience (UX)](), [Android](), [iOS]() Tags: [android](), [app](), [apps](), [ios](), [music](), [updates](), [user-experience](), [ux]() ### AI overview SoundCloud describes October 2022 updates to its iOS and Android apps based on user feedback. The changes improve navigation and content density, rename Stream to Feed on iOS, reduce track and playlist dimensions, and introduce a smaller playlist header for faster access to music. ### Source excerpt We recently made updates to our SoundCloud iOS and Android apps to address key user experience (UX) fixes according to user feedback. We'll... ## Android Image Loading at SoundCloud DevFeed: [Android Image Loading at SoundCloud]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2022-10-13T00:00:00Z Content type: tutorial Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [User interface design]() Tags: [android](), [animation](), [app](), [design](), [images](), [picasso](), [ui]() ### AI overview SoundCloud explains how its Android app redesign implements artwork stacks, overlays, color extraction, placeholders, fade-ins, and image loading with Picasso. ### Source excerpt The SoundCloud Android app recently got a significant makeover: a "new year, new me" type of thing. Our remarkable design team and... ## SoundCloud Echo: Next-Level Humane Registry with Backstage DevFeed: [SoundCloud Echo: Next-Level Humane Registry with Backstage]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2022-09-19T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [Backstage](), [Humane Registry](), [internal developer portal](), [migration](), [Open Source](), [Tooling]() Tags: [automation](), [backstage](), [developer-portal](), [devxp](), [engineering](), [humane-registry](), [migration](), [open-source](), [software-delivery](), [tooling](), [workflows]() ### AI overview SoundCloud describes migrating its internal Services Directory, a humane registry for software ownership and system relationships, to the open source Backstage developer portal. The migration was intended to preserve the registry's core value while adding capabilities and improving software delivery and engineering effectiveness. ### Source excerpt We've seen considerable adoption of our internal humane registry, Services Directory, since we sanitized ownership definition and introduced... ## WINE Workshop DevFeed: [WINE Workshop]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2022-08-02T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [WINE]() Tags: [blog](), [blog-post](), [company](), [conferences](), [dei](), [engineering](), [events](), [knowledge-sharing](), [survey](), [wine](), [work](), [workshops](), [writing]() ### AI overview SoundCloud's Women in Engineering group, WINE, organized a workshop to help women and non-binary engineers develop ideas for engineering blog posts, demos, conference talks, and meetups. The initiative began with a survey identifying barriers such as uncertainty about topics, limited time, and concerns about topic interest. A 90-minute interactive workshop helped participants formulate ideas and leave with a potential post topic and outline. ### Source excerpt SoundCloud has a variety of resource groups, and one such group is called Women in Engineering, or WINE. The mission statement of the group... ## PR Templates for Effective Pull Requests DevFeed: [PR Templates for Effective Pull Requests]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2022-07-12T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [Boilerplate]() Tags: [engineering-culture](), [github](), [knowledge-sharing](), [process](), [pull-requests](), [review]() ### AI overview The article explains how pull request templates improve code reviews by prompting authors to provide context, scope, and implementation details. ### Source excerpt The first step to any code review is understanding what the code does and why. Although the author is by far the most qualified person to... ## Learning Scala at SoundCloud DevFeed: [Learning Scala at SoundCloud]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2022-04-19T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [Scala](), [Go](), [Functional programming](), [Concurrency](), [Back end](), [Microservice]() Tags: [backend](), [concurrency](), [developer](), [engineering](), [functional-programming](), [go](), [golang](), [learning](), [scala]() ### AI overview A backend developer describes learning Scala after joining SoundCloud, where Scala is widely used for microservices. The article covers courses, books, varied study methods, help from colleagues, personal objectives, and differences between Go and Scala, including their approaches to concurrency and parallelism. ### Source excerpt I'm a backend developer who worked extensively writing code in Golang before joining SoundCloud. SoundCloud mostly uses Scala for its... ## The End of the Public API Strangler DevFeed: [The End of the Public API Strangler]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2022-03-14T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [BFF](), [Microservice](), [Finagle](), [Scala](), [Architecture & Design](), [Remote Procedure Call (RPC)](), [Rails](), [Ruby]() Tags: [api](), [architecture](), [bff](), [engineering](), [finagle](), [microservices](), [rpc](), [ruby](), [scala]() ### AI overview SoundCloud describes an eight-year migration of its public API from a monolithic Ruby on Rails application to a BFF using the Strangler pattern. The approach introduced a Scala service built with Finagle to proxy and augment API responses while functionality moved across microservices. ### Source excerpt This is the story of how we used the Strangler pattern to migrate our public API from a monolithic codebase to a fully fledged BFF over the... ## What Is New with Periskop in 2022 DevFeed: [What Is New with Periskop in 2022]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2022-02-01T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [debugging](), [telemetry](), [incident](), [Go Language]() Tags: [engineering](), [exception](), [go](), [monitoring](), [observability](), [open-source](), [persistence](), [python](), [ruby](), [scala](), [updates]() ### AI overview The article describes 2022 updates to Periskop, an open-source pull-based exception-monitoring service used for debugging and incident response. It covers community-oriented governance, client libraries including Scala and Go, and planned exception persistence beyond in-memory storage. ### Source excerpt In a previous blog post, we explained how we built an internal pull-based exception monitoring service called Periskop -- which is heavily... ## Obvious Ownership: A Sensible Humane Registry DevFeed: [Obvious Ownership: A Sensible Humane Registry]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2022-01-06T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [Humane Registry](), [incident](), [Software](), [data](), [Web]() Tags: [automation](), [data](), [devxp](), [engineering](), [humane-registry](), [incident](), [incident-response](), [onboarding](), [software](), [tooling](), [web]() ### AI overview SoundCloud describes building a humane registry to make system ownership obvious and easy to consult. The registry supports onboarding, collaboration between teams, staffing discussions, and incident response by showing who owns systems and which teams depend on one another. The article also relates this idea to traditional service directories such as UDDI. ### Source excerpt Imagine yourself as an engineer who just joined SoundCloud. Besides meeting your colleagues and getting your new laptop, badge, and that... ## Tiny Letter from Kafka DevFeed: [Tiny Letter from Kafka]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2021-10-13T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [Apache-Kafka](), [Event-Streaming](), [Publish-subscribe pattern](), [Messaging](), [Open Source]() Tags: [apache-kafka](), [architecture](), [article](), [distributed](), [engineering](), [event](), [event-streaming](), [kafka](), [messaging](), [open-source](), [streaming]() ### AI overview This article introduces Apache Kafka as an open-source distributed event streaming and messaging platform. It explains the publish-subscribe messaging pattern and uses the story behind Kafka's name to illustrate the system's core flow, with a brief reference to how SoundCloud teams consume event data. ### Source excerpt This article discusses the powerful design choice of Apache Kafka, "an open-source distributed event streaming platform," and gives a sneak... ## Service Architecture at SoundCloud -- Part 3: Domain Gateways DevFeed: [Service Architecture at SoundCloud -- Part 3: Domain Gateways]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Published: 2021-09-17T00:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [SoundCloud Backstage Blog]() Topics: [BFF](), [Authorization](), [API](), [Network](), [Protocol (disambiguation)](), [Web]() Tags: [api](), [architecture](), [article](), [authorization](), [bff](), [blog-post](), [engineering](), [microservices](), [network](), [posts](), [productivity](), [responses](), [series](), [web]() ### AI overview SoundCloud's service architecture evolved from Value-Added Services into Domain Gateways: centralized services for each business domain that support both read and write operations. The article explains challenges caused by growing aggregate fanout and varying needs across BFFs, then presents partial responses and field masks as a way to customize aggregate data while reducing unnecessary dependency fetching. ### Source excerpt This article is the last part in a series of posts aiming to cast some light onto how service architecture has evolved at SoundCloud over... [Next page]()