SoundCloud isn’t just a music streaming service— it’s also a place where musicians can connect to fans and to each other, where genre lines are crossed, old rules are overturned, and the next big things in music are discovered while they’re still brand new. That’s the idea that inspired SoundCloud Go, which offers listeners ad-free access to the platform’s complete 150 million-track (and growing) library. It’s also the idea behind SoundCloud’s series of events in Austin this past week, which brought together a radically diverse group of artists on the rise to share stages in unexpected locations.

The series kicked off on the east side of town at Frank’s Coin Laundry, a well-worn, bare bones laundromat in a quiet neighborhood that feels a world away from the swarming crowds downtown. Frank’s has more room for washing machines than people, but they figured out a way to squeeze a tiny stage into the middle of the room and filled the rest of the space with an audience that was ready to turn all the way up on a Monday night.

DJ Ana Sia set the tone for the night with selections that skipped deftly across genres and moods, but tied it all together with enough bass to rattle the heavy-duty washing machines, many of which had been repurposed into drink coolers for the night. Harlem singer-songwriter-guitarist Bill Dess, who performs under the name Two Feet, followed up with a set of bluesy electronic pop that brought a hushed mood to the room.

 Dess started using SoundCloud as a listener— “I’m always digging through SoundCloud, finding amazing stuff that has like 200 plays,” he said after his set— but the platform ended up giving him a career. “I made the first song in my room in Harlem,” he recalls, “and I wasn’t really contemplating uploading it, but I sent it to a couple of my friends and they were like, ‘Dude, upload this!’ So I posted it at around 3 in the morning and when I woke up the next day, there were like 10 or 15 thousand plays and record labels are reaching out to me.”

Chicago rapper Saba and blue-bearded iconoclastic MC Rome Fortune turned the mood up with sets that had people dancing on washing machines. The windows steamed up and rattled with the bass the tiny but powerful PA threw out. “It’s the first show I’ve ever played at a laundromat,” Saba said. “We’ve been playing all these shows headlining, but this was completely different.”

Fortune summed it up even more succinctly. “You gotta be right in they face sometimes,” he said.

On Wednesday, the action moved across town to the South Congress neighborhood location of the local chain Birds Barbershop, where the punk-inspired black-and-white decor offered a cool contrast to the warm Texas day (and a triangular counter in the middle of the room served up cold drinks). Chicago-based duo DRAMA’s opening set of pop-infused R&B was equally chill, although the songs’ frequently heartbroken moods were countered by the grin plastered on frontwoman Via Rosa’s face throughout the set.

Like most of the acts on the bill, DRAMA has a deep connection to SoundCloud. Like Two Feet, Rosa got her break on the platform without expecting it at all. “I started using SoundCloud years ago, just on some online diary type of thing,” she said. “I would upload songs like some people take selfies. I’d come home, sing into my cellphone with the beat in the background, and the next thing I know, there’s 3,000 plays.”

Jersey club sensation DJ J Heat spun between the first few sets  and, during breaks, got in a few games of Donkey Kong on the vintage arcade machines behind the DJ booth. “Yo, the barbershop was amazing,” he said after. “The energy was amazing.” Then he interrupted the interview to call out a compliment to Via Rosa, who happened to be walking by. “Yo, did fucking great!” he yelled.

“Nice DJ set, too,” Rosa replied.

“I gotta get your information,” J Heat told her. “I would love to do some music with you.” It seems that SoundCloud can facilitate connections between artists IRL, too.

Toronto rapper Tasha the Amazon followed with a performance for a crowd that had become slightly too much for the space. In true Austin outlaw fashion, the fire marshal showed up and cleared out the barbershop for exceeding its capacity. Tasha responded by playing through the shop’s windows to the people who had lined up outside to get back in and, at one point, even brought her mic outside to mingle with the folks on the sidewalk.

 It turns out that Tasha’s a huge fan of the British singer-songwriter SOHN, who specializes in tender piano ballads that seem a world away from her turned-up raps. “Where else could you see us on the same stage?” she asked towards the end of her set. As soon as she wrapped up her set, SOHN took to the stage with nothing more than a laptop and an upright piano. Although it was a much more subdued performance than Tasha’s—and a little at odds with the sunshine still streaming in from outdoors—it was no less captivating, with percolating drums and rich bass tones holding up his piano playing and satiny vocals.

Throughout the performance, Tasha stood right next to the stage, singing along to every song and even calling out a request for his heartbreaking ballad, “Lessons.” SOHN didn’t have the backing track on his computer, but he complied anyhow with an improvised arrangement for piano and voice.

“He’s one of my favorite artists,” Tasha said. “Not that you’d ever hear that in my music. Our generation’s probably the first that doesn’t live in a genre. You can take anyone’s iPhone and find something from every genre, and SoundCloud kind of embodies that.” 

SoundCloud wrapped up the series with a third show at its biggest space yet: a shuttered Mexican restaurant just outside of downtown that served up nachos and churros. Multifaceted DJ Chrissy warmed up the crowd with a set that leaned heavy on vintage dancehall sounds. Kodie Shane opened the gig with a pop-trap hybrid that’s made her one of the biggest sensations to come from SoundCloud in recent months. Even though it was still the early afternoon, the crowd responded like it was prime time.

Virginian singer and bandleader Masego followed, backed up by his Traphouse Jazz Band, who accompanied him as he took the stage laying down a groovy sax solo. His music blends jazz, Afropop, hip-hop, and neo-soul. Taken on its own, it might seem like a niche prospect, but the crowd was clearly already familiar with his work, and sang along with every track he laid down.

According to him, SoundCloud is one of the main reasons why he’s got the fanbase he does right now. “Trap house jazz isn’t a thing in my hometown,” he says, “so I was like, let me put it out online, because I used to see these dope remixes on SoundCloud. I posted my stuff and that crowd embraced it. And then suddenly, I’m as popping as I was in my head.”

 After a dancehall-heavy interlude by DJ Ape Drums, St. Louis rapper Smino took the stage alongside a DJ and a dreadlocked bassist. Although he may not be a household name yet, the audience greeted every track he dropped like they were Top 40 hits.

Following Smino, Houston MC Ugly God took over to close out the set and the series in general. There aren’t many rappers in the game with the kind of devoted Internet fan base that he’s developed. The crowd that had filled the room pressed up against the stage, and up against each other, to rap along with his underground bangers. He wrapped up his set with “Water,” one of his best-known tracks to date, and brought out a guest in an inflatable T. Rex costume wielding a water gun to hose down the happy audience. 

Offstage, Ugly God’s a man of few words, but he had plenty of praise for SoundCloud, which remains his primary mode for releasing music even after major labels have started to come knocking. “It’s a platform for everybody,” he said, adding that he doesn’t have any plans to start releasing music any other way. “Ain’t no switching up,” he said. “Ain’t no going back.”