Which web host is best for a social network?

Honestly, I had no clue where this should go.

Anyways, I'm building a social network that revolves around music. I'm trying to find a host that would be great for something like that.

I really need or would like:
Cloud storage
Unlimited bandwidth/traffic
Unlimited storage (as accounts will be made by users)
A host that is okay with video storage and music storage
A host with PhpMyAdmin (it's what I've always used)

I've been googling around, but there's a few hosts that require, at the least, 3 months of paid service and I don't wanna pay them 3 months worth and find out a few weeks in they're unreliable, have hidden fees, or hidden terms. So I'm coming to the one place I know where web developers and the like come.

Also, it's kinda hard to find a decent host with cloud storage that isn't ridiculously priced.

 

First of all you should take in consideration that you won't be needing "unlimited storage/bandwidth" right away!

Even facebook & twitter don't have "unlimited storage/bradwidth" it's simply impossible and absurd to ask for. Shared hosting providers make these claims "unlimited everything" because they know the reality. They know that out of their thousand clients only 5% will ever need more than 10% of the server capabilities and 50GB+ storage. And you know what they do to these clients!? They ban them! Since they can afford to loose 5% and keep 95% of clients taking up less than 1GB of bandwidth per month and 100MB storage.

Now that my rant is over I'll get to the point.
Be realistic! I highly suggest you get a nice linux starter VPS to host your new social network. See if you can find a nice deal with around 50GB of storage and around 2GB of ram. This will be MORE than enough for a start. Even a 10GB Storage + 1GB ram would be a good start IMO just make sure it's VPS hosting and not shared.

Now you might ask "what if that's not enough"?!
Well it will certainly be enough at the beginning. A website (especially a social network) will not launch right away. It will take time for it to gather any real attention. During this time there is no reason to waste money on capacities that you won't be needing. Later on if you see that you're reaching your limits, simply upgrade! It's very simply just keep regular backups of the site, find a better deal and upgrade!

Never ask for "unlimited" tho because it's doesn't exist.

 

I have developed a similar social network for music producers a couple of years ago, and a VPS was enough for the first 2 years.