A shot from the New York City launch party for SoundCloud Go, SoundCloud's new paid streaming... [+]
According to a recent report from Bloomberg, SoundCloud may be investigating a potential sale, and if the company gets its way, there could be a very large payday in the near future.
The article states that those close to the would be deal say that even though the company has recently been valued at around $700 million, those in charge are looking for a $1 billion check. That's a hefty amount, even for a service as popular as SoundCloud. While the site may be very popular around the world for many different kinds of music lovers, it hasn’t proven to be a sustainable business with the model it’s currently using, so it’s understandable why many companies with the cash to snap it up haven’t immediately done so.
The music streaming platform has been losing money for years, and that’s never a great sign when looking for a buyer, especially when asking for more than a current valuation. In 2014, SoundCloud brought in revenues of just under $19.5 million, but it lost over $44 million. While the company can claim to be investing in its growth and in new products as opposed to focusing on profits, losing twice as much as the amount earned isn’t a good look.
SoundCloud currently has over 175 million users, which makes it one of the biggest music platforms in the world, far ahead of Spotify, Apple Music, and other sites. The company has been able to acquire so many music lovers because it has always offered its tunes for free, and it has traditionally been a home for much of the music that couldn’t be found elsewhere, such as mashups, remixes, and the wares of up-and-coming talents. That 175 million figure is enticing, but it has been tricky to monetize those consumers so far.
After much speculation and years of rumors, SoundCloud finally added a paid tier to its service, officially jumping into the streaming game and competing on more level playing field with Spotify, Tidal, and Apple Music. SoundCloud Go offers the same songs and albums as the other streamers, as well as the music that made SoundCloud so popular in the first place, though this time around, it comes with a familiar pricetag: $9.99 per month. The arrival of Go was met with much excitement from the music industry, as the prospect of turning just a fraction of the company's 175 million users into paying customers for the first time was mouthwatering to a business waiting for streaming to hit scale and push revenues higher. It’s only been a few months since, and while the company won’t share how many users have signed up thus far, Go hasn’t been discussed much since it launched.
The German streaming service has been raising money left and right lately, and earlier this year it collected another $100 million, which helped its valuation reportedly hit that $700 million mark. Of that most recent $100 million, $70 million came from Twitter, which at one time years ago even considered buying the platform, but opted to invest instead.
As of press time, SoundCloud hasn’t publicly responded to the report, and a representative for the company didn’t respond to a request for comment.
