soundcloud
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Tencent tried to buy Spotify earlier this year
Spotify has long been linked with going public in the U.S. — it is speculated to be preparing for an IPO-less listing next year — but it has emerged that the company rebuffed the opportunity to sell to a major tech name earlier this year: Tencent, the Chinese internet giant valued at $380 billion. Tencent is said to have approached Spotify with a view to acquiring the company to… Read More
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Dubset makes Sony the first major label legalized for remixing
Spotify and Apple Music could soon get the legal grey area of music like remixes and DJ sets that today live unofficially on SoundCloud. Sony Music Entertainment today became the first major record label to allow its music to be monetized through unofficial mixes thanks to a deal with rights clearance startup Dubset. That means Sony’s master recordings will be indexed by Dubset, and… Read More
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Crunch Report | Benchmark Sues Travis Kalanick
Benchmark is sueing Travis Kalanick, SoundCloud gets a cash infusion and Facebook buys Fayteq. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
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SoundCloud saved by emergency funding as CEO steps aside
SoundCloud has just closed the necessary funding round to keep the struggling music service afloat. CEO Alex Ljung will step aside though remain chairman as former Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor replaces him. Mike Weissman will become COO as SoundCloud co-founder and CTO Eric Wahlforss stays as chief product officer. Read More
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SoundCloud faces do-or-die vote by investors
SoundCloud will soon collapse if investors don’t vote for a rescue funding round tomorrow. The stumbling music streaming community site had to suddenly lay off 40% of its staff last month. Now it’s asking investors for $169.5 million at a pre-money enterprise valuation of just $150 million. That’s a steep drop from the $700 million valuation of its previous rounds. Read More
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Sick of SoundCloud? Anchor offers podcast transfer with free hosting
SoundCloud is on shaky financial footing, saying it only has enough money to last a few more months unless someone buys or invests in it. That’s sure to cause anxiety in content creators with their life’s work stored on SoundCloud. Now some new startups are nipping at SoundCloud’s heels by focusing on podcasting in ways the music streaming service never did. Anchor is a… Read More
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SoundCloud says it’s going to survive, but how?
SoundCloud says it’s not going away. I’m glad to hear that because I can’t lose SoundCloud. Ever. Last week, SoundCloud announced layoffs of 173 employees (about half of its staff), as well as the closing of its offices in San Francisco and London. TechCrunch’s Josh Constine later found out that those layoffs and other cost-cutting measures only gave SoundCloud… Read More
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SoundCloud sinks as leaks say layoffs buy little time
A tense scene unfolded yesterday as user-generated music streaming service SoundCloud held an all-hands meeting to explain to employees why it suddenly had to lay off 40 percent of its staff last week. Exiting team members wanted to know why they weren’t warned, while those who survived the cuts wanted assurance that the cost reductions would keep the company afloat for the long-run. Read More
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After big layoffs SoundCloud founder says its strategy is now to ‘take back control’
SoundCloud co-founder Alex Ljung gave his first major public interview to me today at Tech Open Air Berlin. He batted back claims that SoundCloud is facing tough times, insisting that by cutting headcount by 173 people and closing two major offices, it is on its way to “taking back control” of its destiny and remaining a major independent force in the music and tech industry. Read More
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Crunch Report | QVC Acquires HSN for $2.1 Billion
QVC acquires HSN for 2.1 billion, RED is working on a smartphone, SoundCloud loses its San Francisco and London offices and Microsoft is laying off thousands of people. All this on Crunch Report. Read More
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SoundCloud, the ‘YouTube for audio’, cuts 173 jobs, closes San Francisco, London offices
Some rough news today for SoundCloud, the audio streaming site whose content is largely based around uploads from its 175 million users in 190 countries. The company has announced that it is laying off 173 employees, and it is closing offices in San Francisco and London. The moves are being described as cost cutting measures “to ensure our path to long-term, independent success,”… Read More
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SoundCloud’s ‘The Upload’ uses machine learning to help you find new tracks
SoundCloud made a name for itself among the landscape of music streaming services as the one where creators themselves uploaded music and other sound recordings — picking up the moniker “the YouTube of audio” in the process. Now the company is launching a new discovery feature that plays on that idea and highlights what’s getting added. The Upload, as it is called… Read More
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Report: Free trials push Apple Music ahead of Pandora and Spotify on mobile usage
Spotify may be the reigning leader when it comes to the largest number of paid subscribers for a streaming music service, but it’s Apple that comes out on top when their respective audiences translate into monthly unique users, specifically on mobile. A report published this week from mobile analytics firm Verto has found that Apple Music attracted 40.7 million monthly unique users to… Read More
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Yep, more later-stage companies are taking on venture debt
Venture debt has been much in the news lately. Are desperate times beginning to call for desperate measures? That might be an overstatement. At the same time, the venture debt firm Western Technology Investment has seen plenty of cycles and amassed plenty of data over its 37 years in the business, and CEO Maurice Werdegar says the firm just finished its busiest quarter ever. Read More
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Soundcloud confirms new $70M credit line, still closin $100M round
Soundcloud — the popular, but unprofitable platform that lets creators post and share music and other audio files — may have been unsuccessful (so far) in closing a new $100 million round of funding, but it’s not running out of money soon. The company has secured a $70 million round of debt funding from three new investors — Ares Capital, Kreos Capital, and… Read More
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SoundCloud revamps its subscription service with cheaper $4.99 option
SoundCloud has rebooted its paid membership plan with a new budget option less than a year after it launched. The Berlin-based company today revealed a cheaper tier of $4.99 per month, down from the initial $9.99 subscription that it rolled out last March, in a bid to make its plans more appealing to users. The company isn’t abandoning that higher pricing, though, and it will offer… Read More
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Dubset raises $4M to legalize remixes for Spotify and Apple Music
Record labels refuse to allow streaming of remixes and hour-long DJ sets unless copyright owners get paid for every little sample. Dubset just raised $4 million to handle that legal mess so Spotify and Apple Music can offer the type of music that used to live illegally on SoundCloud. Read More
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SoundCloud amps up advertising with programmatic buying in the US
On the heels of hiring a new CTO from Yahoo and trying to position itself either as a stronger acquisition target or standalone entity, SoundCloud is getting a lot deeper into the business of advertising. Today the audio startup — which streams both licensed music tracks and is also a go-to platform for user-generated content (similar to YouTube) — announced that it would be… Read More
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SoundCloud co-founder takes product role, Yahoo alum steps in as CTO
On the heels of losses that appear to be growing faster than revenues, and reported acquisition interest from Google, the music streaming service SoundCloud today announced some executive movements. Eric Wahlforss, who co-founded the audio streaming startup with Alexander Ljung, is stepping away from the role of CTO and taking a new position as chief product officer. Meanwhile, SoundCloud… Read More
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Spotify has backed out of talks to acquire SoundCloud
The digital music marriage that many wanted to happen isn’t happening after all. Spotify has given up on its latest effort to buy SoundCloud following months of talks between the two, according to a source at Spotify who is familiar with discussions. Read More
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