For the first decade or so that I used SoundCloud, music discovery was WORK - their recommendation engine wasn't great, and their search tools were limited, so you'd have to just kind of chase links through artists & commenters, and grind it out. Every couple weeks I would spend a few hours hunting for gems.

Eventually I switched most of my listening to Spotify, on the strength of their recommendation engine, even though my heart is with mixes on SoundCloud.

Then sometime about 5 years ago they fixed their recommendation engine, and it's really just a great experience. Their search tools are still limited, and they've "pigeonholed" my tastes a bit more than Spotify, but I'm still a big fan of the platform and paying subscriber.

If you love SoundCloud ... pay them! Let's keep this beautiful thing alive.

[UPDATE] - also I've had such great interactions with artists on SoundCloud, up-to-and-including some emails to get a local copy of favorite remixes after a track disappeared from SC. So much positivity.