Results of the Freesound Survey 2017

Dear Freesounders,

As promised, here are some plots and charts and insights we got after analysing the more than 1,300 survey responses that you filled in?some weeks ago. Warning:?you’ll see some box plots in this post which might look strange. These are not really hard to interpret. In general, the more concentrated?the “box”?is?in the top scores, the better.

Let’s start with your answers to the question “I’d describe myself as…”:

I’d describe myself as a…

NOTE:?this question (and some others below) multiple responses where accepted per participant. The percentage shown in the figure is calculated?over total number of participants in the survey (therefore the sum of all bars > 100%).?

Apparently, Freesound user profiles are quite heterogeneous :). A similar observation can be made looking at your responses about what do you use the sounds you download for:

The Freesound sounds I download, I use them…

And, again, we also observe significant heterogeneity in the kinds of sounds you’re interested in finding:

In particular, I’m interested in finding the following kinds of sounds:

The previous chart can be compared with the?termcloud that we showed in our previous 2016 in numbers blog post, it seems to be quite well aligned, doesn’t?it?

Even though you are interested in?a wide variety of different sounds, the survey responses tell us that, when searching in Freesound, users typically end up finding what they’re?looking for (or at least some other useful sounds). Also,?the quality of uploaded sounds is also generally well valued.

When I search in Freesound…

And how often do you use Freesound? Well, apparently most of you are quite regular users and use Freesound at least a couple of times a month…

I normally use Freesound…

…but the majority of users only download sounds, do not upload:

I ?use Freesound…

This is nothing new. In fact, we know from our data that less than 1% of users do upload sounds (way less that what the survey suggests). This kind of balance between uploading/downloading (i.e. producing/consuming) is quite normal in the web.

For the questions regarding Creative Commons licenses,?it seems that Freesound users?are generally aware of Creative Commons licenses and consider them to be important?(including downloaders). Also, there seems to be a tendency of users who would like to be able to use more CC licenses than those currently offered (CC0, CC-BY, and CC-BY-NC), but this does not seem to be a very generalized or strong claim.

About Freesound and Creative Commons licenses

Finally, lets finish this post with a chart with?the things you like the most about Freesound…

What are the things you like the most about Freesound?

Apparently you like lots of things about Freesound :), most prominently that fact that?Freesound is free to use (as long as their sounds when license requirements are met), but also very importantly?you value its philosophy and community of users.

Again, thanks for your participation in the survey, this certainly gives us insights to continue working in the future!

frederic

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3 Responses to Results of the Freesound Survey 2017

  1. Phill Cohen says:

    I’d like to see some of the results from the survey question regarding how FreeSound can be improved. My response to that question was that I’d like to see improved batch functions for uploading and tagging samples. The current process where each sample must be described and tagged individually is tedious, and a batch function would be particularly useful for uploads of sample packs. I’ve personally put together some large packs that I distribute elsewhere due to these limitations; and from correspondence with other FreeSound users I know this is a frustration others share. Since the survey results show that more users are downloading than uploading, I think it would be good to take a look at what would get more people uploading. Anyone reading this, please do comment; also I’d definitely like to see other user’s feedback about how FreeSound can be improved.

    — Phill C (pjcohen)

  2. frederic.font says:

    Hi Phill,

    The reason why we didn’t report on the answers for this question is that there were many responses and we needed some more time to process them and present them in a relevant way for you. Nevertheless, you’ll find a Google Spreadsheet with the raw responses here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DISijd6wCVsp6MP9x02Hbe0PzYjGRK0-ONaie8zXFdY

    Regarding your specific proposal, this is something we are considering. We are aware that batch uploading of sounds is really tedious and we are planning to offer an alternative way based on uploading a CSV file with all metadata which will be much easier. This option would probably be only enabled for users that uploaded more than X sounds (trusted users). The main limitation for implementing such a feature right now is time, but I think this will be a reality sooner than later as most of the required implementation bits have already been done.

    Cheers,

    frederic

  3. Phillip Cohen (pjcohen) says:

    Very enlightening, Frederick… thanks for sharing the spreadsheet. I can say it’s heartening to know that maintenance and improvement of the site is always ongoing, and look forward to seeing what is implemented in the near future of the site! 8^)

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