Good day all.
So, I’m gonna cut the bullshit and get right to the nitty-gritty. Splathouse has been banned permanently on SoundCloud. No, I cannot appeal this and I will not be starting a new account on the service.
Splathouse and Splat Speaks existed in flagrant violation of SoundCloud’s terms of service. When I started, SC was largely an unmoderated place. Anyone could upload anything and did, which is what prompted me to begin using the platform to send a simple recording to my friends on a Discord server. I never, ever anticipated my page becoming a runaway success with over two million plays, close to five thousand followers and helping me literally build a career in voice acting.
Soundcloud as a platform has drastically changed over the last year, and so did the kinds of people that followed me. As a largely unmoderated platform, it quickly became a hub for rampant piracy. As it wasn’t age-gated, I and other people like me often had to curate our follows ourselves. Simply put, with the downfall of Yiffparty (another massive piracy site) came an influx of minors. I was spending hours of my day age gating my own content. There came a point over the last year where I came to question staying on the platform at all, and in the sense of full disclosure was looking for a way out.
Let me be totally clear: I mean from SoundCloud, not from Splathouse or Splatspeaks. As I said on an upload the other day, Splat Speaks will never cease or stop. All of my content (save a few joke postings) is currently mirrored on Audiomack. I will begin the process of looking for the best way to host audio content on my own site which has served as a repository for my writing for years literally the moment I get done posting this. I am a massive advocate for self hosting content, and going forward hosting everything “at home” will become the way forward.
Alternatives such as Soundgasm are too slow, too poorly maintained and far too negligent in their oversight to accommodate me. Likewise, certain platforms in the community are not conducive to the kinds of content Splat Speaks is about. I am open to any invitations obviously, but I will need to personally verify that such platforms are up to my professional standards before joining. I refuse to toss myself to the wolves and refuse to subjugate myself to people whose vision doesn’t match my own for this community. I am here to make an audience feel loved, valued and always wanted in their own skin first and foremost.
I likewise will not be returning to Onlyfans despite their cowardly turnabout, as they have already shown their true face regarding what’s allowed on their platform. I encourage other voice actors, sound designers, engineers and sex workers to join me in abandoning a platform that is only interested in exploiting you for your labor and tossing you aside. You deserve better treatment and you know it. It is only through a unified front that we, as creators, can demand the treatment we are due.
So. What’s next for me, Splathouse, Splat Speaks and all the rest of this mess?
As stated, I had been looking for a way out from SC for months. My patrons were aware of this, so were my close friends and other creators I have worked with. As such, I have turned over what to do and how best to proceed many, many times. Here is my current plan as it stands.
Splat speaks will be taking a momentary break. “Momentary” meaning “up to a month, at least a few weeks”. I need real-world hours to do research on where/how to host my own stuff and new mirror sites for it. Audiomack likely will not tolerate my content for long, despite being similar in structure to SoundCloud. In the meantime, several months worth of audio have been uploaded as of 9/3/21. Feel free to listen and enjoy to your heart’s content. I will make a more formal announcement when I have secured Splat Speaks new home.
If you are currently a patron of mine at a tier where you can “bump” requests, I’ll do you one better: Send your request directly to me on patreon and I will produce, edit and upload it directly to you as a commission. None of you are responsible for what happened and have made my career. It is the least I can do to pay any of you back. Yes, this means patrons at the $3 tier and higher can do this.
I will actively be looking into alternatives to build my platform, including SFW content. I am going to finally finish fleshing out my Fiverr page, and will look into what pray tell I can do on YouTube. I’m thinking about narrating public-domain works, so I can avoid the same pitfalls SoundCloud brought me.
I am heavily considering making The Night Before a podcast on Spotify. I view this as an opportunity to reach out to a larger audience than my traditional listeners. Many, many years of podcasting experience is ultimately what made Splat Speaks possible. The Night Before fit like a glove in terms of content production, and could even lead towards things like sponsorship and more. Wouldn’t that be a kick, eh?
I will be taking Fridays for the time being as a full day dedicated to auditions. If you are currently looking for someone to fill a role, or hear about a project that seems right up my ally, please drop me a line on twitter. My DMs are always open to the public. I’m open for NSFW/SFW roles and will gladly send you a sound test.
Commissions are currently “always open”, schedule permitting. If you’ve been looking to commission me, I ask that you read my terms and send me a DM on Twitter. I am flexible and more than happy to accommodate whatever you might desire.
Lastly, Fansly and age-gated platforms will not be affected by this. As I produce a totally different kind of content on my Fansly page, production will not cease there. I upload daily audio, “semi-live” tests, video/pictures and more there. I encourage you to follow me there-just uh, prepare for an eyefull.
I had a tremendous run on SoundCloud, and I am incredibly proud of what I was able to accomplish. Doing so radically and fundamentally changed the trajectory of my life. Despite what’s happened, I have zero hard feelings towards the platform at all. It’s a great service if you’re looking for new artists or are one yourself.
I set out to simply record some fun things and ended up becoming one of the largest voice actors to ever grace the platform. If you had told me five years ago I would have made it this far, I wouldn’t have believed you.
But it wasn’t SoundCloud that made that happen.
It was all of you. Every single deviant, fan, or listener. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything. The love I feel for all of you is tremendous, and it’s what is giving me the confidence that I’m going to be okay.
The only thing I’m sad about is losing my playlist, haha. I’m gonna miss those rare deep cuts.
Take care all of you. Keep your eyes open to my twitter and patreon. I’ll give news the moment I have it.
And once more-thank you for listening.
-j