spotify Spotify in advanced talks to buy SoundCloud

[captain_to_fire]

Original article from Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0%2Fd03bedbe-85bb-11e6-8897-2359a58ac7a5.html?ft_site=falcon&desktop=true#axzz4Le9Ac0GB

 

Quote

Spotify, the music streaming service, is in advanced talks to acquire SoundCloud, as competition heats up with Apple for the future of digital music, said people briefed on the discussions. SoundCloud, which raised $100m in June from a group of investors including Twitter, was last valued at about $700m.
 

Those briefed about the talks said it was unclear how much Spotify would pay for the Berlin-based company, as they warned that the discussions could still collapse. 

A deal between Spotify and SoundCloud, two of Europe’s top tech start-ups, comes as Silicon Valley titans such as Apple and Amazon have recently launched their own music streaming services, forcing independent players to consolidate to survive. Spotify this month hit 40m paying subscribers a week after Apple Music announced its service had grown to 17m subscribers. Spotify declined to comment, while SoundCloud could not be immediately reached. Despite boasting a 200m-strong creative community and 135m tracks, with remixes and new artists coveted by competitors, SoundCloud has never turned a profit. In 2014, it reported a turnover of €17.4m and an operating loss of €39m. The start-up has not reported user numbers or business health since then. People close to Spotify management said SoundCloud was viewed as a threat as long as it was considering offering a cheaper, mid-tier subscription service. But when it abandoned those plans, going instead for a standard $9.99 option known as SoundCloud Go earlier this year, it lost its best chance of independent success. “They’ve been absolutely dobbed by all the pressure from the labels to go in for a cookie-cutter subscription service which doesn’t fit their user base, content or catalogue. It’s an artefact ultimately,” said analyst Mark Mulligan, founder of Midea Research.  

 

 

As a Spotify Premium user, I'm fine with this as long as they don't merge two services into one.

Edited September 30, 2016 by hey_yo_

[Aytex]

NO, PLEASE NO

Soundcloud is where free music actually lives D: 

 

[Marinatall_Ironside]

10 minutes ago, Aytex said:

NO, PLEASE NO

Soundcloud is where free music actually lives D: 

 

Spotify has a free model, which I use, as I freely listen to Rip & Tear by Mick Gordon on my Windows PC.

[vanished]

Quote

Despite boasting a 200m-strong creative community and 135m tracks, with remixes and new artists coveted by competitors, SoundCloud has never turned a profit. In 2014, it reported a turnover of €17.4m and an operating loss of €39m. 

So... who's been throwing money into this bottomless pit then?  How are they still functioning... where is the cash coming from!?

[No]

i stopped using soundcloud after they made a subscription thing

[rhyseyness]

As a Spotify premium user, who uses soundcloud free and refuses to pay for 2 music subscription services:

If this goes through, I hope it means I can use the premium service on both platforms for the same price I'm currently paying.

[alexyy]

2 hours ago, JurunceNK said:

Spotify has a free model, which I use, as I freely listen to Rip & Tear by Mick Gordon on my Windows PC.

Such a good soundtrack to Doom.

[Prysin]

4 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

So... who's been throwing money into this bottomless pit then?  How are they still functioning... where is the cash coming from!?

twitter it seems. Which is a bottomless pit of SJWs...

 

[Murasaki]

4 hours ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

So... who's been throwing money into this bottomless pit then?  How are they still functioning... where is the cash coming from!?

Trump!

[MilkJugg24]

Spotify is for real music

 

Soundclown is for memes

 

I like memes 

[Wheeljack699]

i dont use spotify i only use soundcloud will i have to pay or something and also spotify isn't available in my country will it make soundcloud not available too?