Can SoundCloud be saved?

LaCurtis Bunch, Editor

 

Photo courtesy of: Soundcloud.com

SoundCloud is a privately owned Germany based music streaming site that was founded in September of 2007. The service has led to the rise of many successful musicians since its inception: Post Malone, Kehlani ,and Chicago’s own Vic Mensa and Chance The Rapper are just a few examples of musicians whose roots are firmly planted in SoundCloud. However, recently SoundCloud has been having financial problems due to its inability to profit from the music hosted on the platform. Unlike its competitors (Spotify, Apple music, etc.) SoundCloud has been primarily free to use since it was founded, but due to the recent action of the other services to pay artists for exclusivity to their music has significantly hindered SoundCloud in the race among the streaming services. Recently, SoundCloud has attempted to implement a paid subscription that users can choose to sign up for that allows access to specific albums and songs from artists, but with not enough incentive to sign up for the paid subscription, users are choosing other platforms. These financial woes have led to rumors that the company could be ending soon. However,the chairman of the board for SoundCloud has strongly denied these claims, as reported by Mallory Locklear of Engadget.com. The chairman of the board for SoundCloud, Alex Ljung  has stated, “This financing means SoundCloud remains strong, independent and here to stay. As I said, we’re not going anywhere.” As rumors continue to swirl about the ending of SoundCloud it will be interesting to see if the company has finally reached a stable point where they can earn money and continue to provide a platform for up and coming artists.