The varied contribution in the community of now more than 10 million SoundClouders around the world keeps blowing our minds every day. We’ve seen so many different ways you’ve all made an impact in one way or another: whether they’re through meaningful connections formed, experimental collaborations, offline or online evangelists and supporters. The spirit of community has always been at the heart of who we are. In the past, some of you have stepped up as leaders within the community. To us, you are heroes and we’ve got something for you. Welcome to our new Community program: The SoundCloud Heroes. With the SoundCloud Hero program, we’re building a global network of local offline & online volunteer SoundCloud ambassadors.

Who are we looking for? You’re an inspiring connector, communicator and leader in your community who gets things done. You understand SoundCloud’s mission to unmute the web with all forms of audio. You see sound as the missing element on the web for expressing yourself. You’re enthusiastic to support SoundCloud’s mission on a local level with a global impact.

What you’ll be doing:

• Local user collaborations
• Speaker series (e.g. spoken word nights at your favorite local cafe)
• Sound theme events and “missions” that can be collaborated with the other local SoundCloud heroes
• Or simply grabbing some brews with other local SoundClouders at a meetup

Whatever great and impactful ideas and goals you have in mind that are specific to expanding the SoundCloud community in your city, we want to help you! We’ll provide you with guidance to help you on your way. To say thanks, we’ll hook you up with some sweet swag, some of which includes:

• A trip to meet and work with our team in either San Francisco or Berlin
• Limited edition t-shirts
• Official cards with your name on it
• Supply of pins, stickers and t-shirts
• More surprises to be added throughout the year!

Where? We’re starting our search for heroes in US metropolitan cities like Austin, San Francisco, New York City and Chicago. If you’re not in one of these US cities or outside of the US but think you can still bring the SoundCloud game to your city, let us know where you’re at and why you’d make a great hero. Don’t worry! We’ll be in touch when we’re ready to expand the program throughout the year.

How do I apply? Apply here. The SoundCloud Community Team will review all applications and choose people we feel will best represent SoundCloud in their local communities. The program will be ongoing and we’re not limiting the number of SoundCloud Heroes in each city. Good luck! If you have any questions, reach out to heroes[at]soundcloud[dot]com

When we started SoundCloud a few years ago, we had the vision of enabling people to create and share sound more easily and collaboratively.

Today, we’re more than thrilled to extend ten million Thank You’s to our 10 million registered SoundClouders.

Ten million is not just a number to us, it is proof that we’re not alone on our mission to unmute the web and it gives us goosebumps to know that more than ten million people from around the world have been finding value in SoundCloud in many different ways. As of today:

• Sound is mobile: Over 5 million official SoundCloud apps have been downloaded
• Sound is developing: Over 10,000 apps being developed on SoundCloud’s open platform. Recent additions include integrations with professional music creation software Pro Tools and Cakewalk.
• Sound is more than music: Over 3.3 million different tags show the breadth of sounds on SoundCloud, which now includes everything from journalists & bloggers (Robert Scoble, Mike Butcher), to publishing (Penguin Books UK), to education (Stanford).

Please join us to celebrate this huge milestone with us by listening to a ‘Story Wheel’, in which our co-founders Alex & Eric reflect on SoundCloud’s journey so far. Simply click the image below to access the Story Wheel.

Oh, and if you’d like to create your own Story Wheel to tell a story behind your Instagram photos, it all starts here.

Thanks, all. You rock.

Wow, December already?

What. A. Year. What a community! We can’t believe how fast the year flew by and the amount of amazing stories we’ve heard from all of you over the course of 2011. So we thought, “Why not pause for a minute and look back at an exciting year topped with magicsauce?”

Here’s what we’ve been cooking for you:

Your SoundCloud Story:

We asked former SoundClouders Of The Day to record their SoundCloud story, favorite moments of the year and tips & tricks they have for other Community members. Every day, we’ll feature one recording on our Community account and you are invited to also share your story with us. Learn how.

Here’s the set with your #SCstories:

#SCFlashbacks:

Every day, we’ve been taking a look back into the past and have been posting a flashback story into our own Storify.

This Year in SoundCloud:

For the month of December, we’re turning our weekly podcast This Week in SoundCloud into This Year in SoundCloud and make it an audio retrospective, looking back at some of the major stories of the past year, filled with some special surprises. Listen to the first two episodes below, with more to come. Follow the Community Team for more.

Episode 1 of This Year in SoundCloud (January-March):

Episode 2 of This Year in SoundCloud (April-June):

Make sure to follow us on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook, the big Community retrospective starts there today.