Wow, Austin took our breath away, I think we’re just about recovered. So much awesome stuff happened that we thought we’d better write them all down and share with you. If you were at SXSW, we’d love to hear your stories too.

First up… bands. So many bands and so much good music. And it wasn’t just about blagging our way into the Foo Fighters VIP to catch Dave Grohl play through the new album, it was also about the 2000+ plus acts that all made their way to Austin to showcase at the official (and unofficial) parties. We did our research and found that over 400 of these bands had SoundCloud accounts, so we got busy asking them to add their music to Paper Garden’s SXSW Showcase group. Listen to the results…

SXSW 2011 Showcasing bands!

But it wasn’t just music we were looking forward to. It was also the SXSW sounds. We reached out via Twitter to ask for willing SXSW Sound Ambassadors to fill up our interactive sound map of Austin. Our Sound Ambassadors (and one VC) managed to capture everything from elevator pitches, to interviews, to street noise, to buskers, to drunken conversations in bars. Go check it all out on the map.

We also teamed up with Billboard and Blue Microphones who used our map widgets to create their own special sound maps to great effect! If you’d like to do something similar then get in touch.

Last but not least I wanted to leave you with a few bonus tracks that involve our very own Alexander Ljung. First up go and check out one of many podcasts of panel recordings that are being uploaded by Hittin Interactive, one of which is actually one of Alex’s panels entitled ‘Selling Services To Musicians‘.

And to finish off check out this spontaneous remix of Alex talking about Austin’s world famous barbecue.

Alex’ Austin BBQ by Jackplug

Just insane – uhm – just in time for SXSW, we’re releasing a couple of awesome new features to SoundCloud. And this time we have updates all across the board, making it even easier for you to share the sounds you’ve created. Let’s hear what the Weatherman has lined up for you:

On the menu for you today we have:

1. Login with Facebook

This one probably doesn’t need too much of an introduction as we’re sure you’ve seen and used it before for other services. SoundCloud now supports the ability to sign up or log in using your Facebook credentials. For people you’re sharing your sounds with, this will make it easier and more streamlined for them to sign up for a SoundCloud account in order to leave a comment on one of your tracks or add it to their favorites. Sign up and log in are currently only possible on the web version but we’ll be following up by enabling this in our mobile apps and any third-party app using a SoundCloud connection very soon.

2. SoundCloud Apps: Android, iPhone and Desktop

Head over to the app stores to update because we’ve refreshed all our apps: besides many bug fixes and streaming improvements, these are the new additions:

Android & iPhone: both apps now let you check in to Foursquare when uploading a new recording. Also, browse through followers and followings for any user profile to find more great SoundClouders

Android: post and view comments, share to Twitter & Facebook and via email, choose from two nifty widgets for your homescreen

Desktop: improved playlist creation, share private tracks via email, public tracks to your networks, drag & drop urls into the app

3. SoundCloud Mobile

Today, we’re also launching a mobile version of the site for other smartphones and tablets. When on your web-enabled mobile phone, head over to http://m.soundcloud.com to see the mobile version of SoundCloud in action. This first version allows you to play and find tracks, explore users and browse tags with plenty more functionality on its way. Pretty neat.

4. Songkick integration

And last but not least, with this Songkick integration, we’re making it easy for performers to add upcoming tour dates to their SoundCloud account. To enable Songkick on your profile, paste the url to your Songkick artist account in the You On The Web section of your account settings and three of your upcoming performances will be displayed on your profile.

So that’s it for today – make sure to check back as we’ll be posting a set of more detailed blog posts about the features we announced today right here on the blog starting next week.

In the meantime, if you’re headed to Austin for SXSW, safe travels and happy arrivals. And finally – as always – let us know what you think in the comments, you know we love your feedback.

Phew, it’s SXSW time already. For those who don’t know SXSW is one of the biggest events for both the music and tech communities. Seeing as SoundCloud hits the sweet spot directly between those two things it’s no surprise that we have a whole bunch of interesting activities lined up for the week. And we want to get you involved too. So here’s our SXSW wrap up…

Get Involved! Become a SXSW Sound Ambassador

With so many interesting people, discussions, bands and music going down in Austin during SXSW it’s the perfect place to start playing with our Record features (available for iPhone and Android). And this is where you come in…

We’re looking for 20 official SXSW Sound Ambassadors (ideally 10 attending Interactive and 10 attending Music) to pound the streets of downtown Austin using the SoundCloud App to record sounds, tag their locations and taking pics. All these sounds will then be featured on our special Sounds By South West map. Neat huh? Everyone we choose will also get an account upgrade and SoundCloud goodie bag with stickers, badges and a t-shirt. All you need to do is apply here by Friday 11th March. But be quick, we’ll pick the best people as soon as we can.

We’ve also teamed up with both Blue Microphones and Billboard (more news on that soon). And we’ll be revealing another special project that involves a VC and lots of elevators in Austin. If you’re interested in learning more about how you can use the SoundCloud mobile app to record then read our 101 on ‘Audio Tweeting‘.

Get Involved! Add Your Music to our SXSW Showcase Group

Of course we don’t want to leave you musicians and bands out. Our friends at Paper Garden Records have thrown up a group for anyone who is playing in Austin during SXSW. If you’re playing and have some tracks to showcase then go ahead and add them here. And if you’re a blogger or journalist then please feel free to go ahead and embed the group in any posts or features you might be writing.

SXSW 2011 Showcasing bands!

Come and Learn

One of the things we love about SXSW is the sheer amount of new things you can learn. Both Interactive and Music have a great lineup of panels and presentations during the day. We’re pleased to say that we’ll be speaking too:

• Love, Music APIs – Mon 14, 11am - Austin Convention Center, Room 18ABCD
• Selling Services Or Products To Musicians – Tue 15, 5pm - Hilton, Salon A
• Mobile Music Moves To The Cloud – Wed 16, 2pm - Austin Convention Center, Room 11AB
• Marketing Your Music In An Overcrowded Market – Fri 18, 2pm - Austin Convention Centre, Room 10A

Come and Meet us

Whatever you’re doing at SXSW then we want to hang out and say hello. So SoundCloud is throwing two different meetups with some of our friends from the world of music + tech.

• SoundCloud, Rdio & Songkick: 2nd Annual SXSW MusicTech Mixer - Tues 15, 6.30-8.30pm - El Sol La Luna (corner of 6th & River)
• SoundCloud, Mobile Roadie, Topspin, Songkick, Virb, Digital/Music Matters, MXP4 Meetup - Wed 16, 5-9pm - Belmont (305 W 6th St)