Soundcloud was originally founded on August 27, 2007, in Berlin, Germany. What started off as a platform to facilitate sharing and discussions of recordings among musicians has now become one of the biggest music streaming services in the world. Available to 190 countries and territories, the platform has over 260 million unique tracks available to its users as of 2023, making it one of the biggest song libraries in the industry compared to the music streaming giant, Spotify which only has 82 million.
Since its establishment, the company has always operated in a niche different from other music streaming platforms where they prioritize artists first. With that, it has become an especially popular platform for emerging artists to put their foot in the door and kick off their musical careers. Reliable Soundcloud promotion services support musicians on the way to getting a fanbase and gaining popularity.
Their platform works as free and opens with ads to users who are then able to share, create and discover music. Its other two paid subscription plans, SoundCloud Go and Go+ would offer more features including offline listening and wider access to its library.
Financial Outlook: SoundCloud’s Financial Performance Over The Years
Since its initial launch in 2007, they have grown to become globally recognized and as of 2023 is worth well over USD $800 million. Specifically within the audio players category. SoundCloud dominates over 66% of the market share. That’s over two-thirds of the market despite being behind in user numbers compared to Apple Music and Spotify.
As a company, SoundCloud has been experiencing exponential growth in its revenue. Specifically, they have been making double-digit percentage growths over the last few years, with their last revenue reported to go up to USD $273 million, a 19.2% YoY growth in 2021.
However, just like many other music streaming platforms out there, SoundCloud has been operating at a loss for many years. Recently, they made an announcement stating their intention to lay off 8% of their workforce in efforts to improve efficiency, costs, and speed up decision-making. This isn’t the first time that SoundCloud has done this. The year before, the company downsized about 20% of its global workforce and blamed it on the challenging economic climate. In 2017, the company also slashed its workforce by 40%.
The Future For SoundCloud: How Is SoundCloud Moving Forward?
While SoundCloud has raised many eyebrows on why they had decided to let go of their workers, the company has been appearing to be getting stronger. Before it all happened in 2017, SoundCloud decided that it was time that they stop trying to keep up and match with Spotify and Apple Music. Instead, they wanted to focus on their niche and pave their own path by building on the unique culture that makes SoundCloud different from others.
Since then, SoundCloud has been doing just that with its launch of a new royalty payments model known as Fan-Powered Royalties (FPR). hiring of new key execs, adding in Troy Carter to the board of directors, and making valuable acquisitions such as Musiio and Repost Network.
Overall, SoundCloud has been facing some rough times but has never lost sight of what they are trying to achieve. Despite reporting negative net incomes, the losses have in fact, been getting smaller every year since 2016 and are well on their way to becoming profitable soon enough.
Published by HOLR Magazine.