[skrebbel]

> Imagine if users were frustrated that after listening to the music clips, it was not easy to "source the brand of guitars or drums". Well, most soundcloud music is uploaded by musicians and not music gear manufacturers.

This analogy does not hold because nearly any musician will jump to the opportunity of sharing their gear and setup. It was pieced together passionately over a decade, after all; the proud basis of the musician's success.

[jasode]

>This analogy does not hold because nearly any musician will jump to the opportunity of sharing their gear and setup.

They'll share info on music gear forums[1] but not on Soundcloud. One could visit 10 rappers' soundcloud page and leave a comment asking "what microphone did you use for your rap vocals?" and you usually won't get a reply. That's normal. A lot of musicians upload their music but don't engage with the comments left by users. Musicians aren't being secretive on Soundcloud; they simply don't view it as a Q&A platform.

In any case, what I meant by "items not easy to source" for Soundcloud analogy is that there is no "add to cart" or url for the products you hear in the song. E.g., there is no button that says "Buy the Shure SM58 vocal mic you're hearing". In contrast, Pinterest has direct and obvious hotlinks to retailers' websites.

Therefore, getting frustrated that SoundCloud "doesn't make it easy to source the music gear you're listening to" is to misunderstand what SoundCloud is about.

[1] gearpage, harmonycentral, gearslutz, etc: https://www.google.com/search?q=music+gear+forum

[hunter2_]

This is a decent analogy, but maybe the difference is that someone in the market for music gear doesn't expect SoundCloud to help them buy it (they know they need a music shop instead); someone in the market for house stuff does expect Houzz to help them buy it (it's not obvious what the deal is).

Or simply that many SoundCloud listeners aren't themselves looking to buy gear / make music; many Houzz users are indeed looking to DIY.

[jasode]

>; someone in the market for house stuff does expect Houzz to help them buy it (it's not obvious what the deal is). [...] ; many Houzz users are indeed looking to DIY.

Yes, you're right. The user-interface to Houzz website does not make the "professional marketplace" distinction obvious.

Houzz does get revenue from both product companies like IKEA furniture, and Viking and LG appliances, etc. They also get revenue from professional contractors to show up in listings when people search photos for "ideas".

Yes, it's not obvious that 99% of the idea photos that people bookmark into their ideabooks come from professionals to advertise their "services" and not product manufacturers to sell "stuff".