{"id":8078,"date":"2017-08-10T18:56:06","date_gmt":"2017-08-10T18:56:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rsoftsolution.com\/blog\/soundcloud-faces-do-or-die-vote-by-investors.html"},"modified":"2017-08-10T18:56:06","modified_gmt":"2017-08-10T18:56:06","slug":"soundcloud-faces-do-or-die-vote-by-investors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rbsitsoftwaresolution.in\/blog\/soundcloud-faces-do-or-die-vote-by-investors.html","title":{"rendered":"SoundCloud faces do-or-die vote by investors"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

SoundCloud will soon collapse if investors don\u2019t vote for a rescue funding round tomorrow. The stumbling music streaming community site had to suddenly lay off 40 percent of its staff last month<\/a>. Now it\u2019s\u00a0asking investors for $169.5 million at a pre-money enterprise valuation of just $150 million, according to Axios<\/a>\u2018 reliable business editor Dan Primack.\u00a0That\u2019s a steep drop from the $700 million valuation of its previous rounds.<\/p>\n

If SoundCloud doesn\u2019t get the funding,\u00a0CEO Alexander Ljung reportedly told investors that SoundCloud won\u2019t be able \u201cto continue as a going concern.\u201d That could force SoundCloud to sell even though Ljung has stubbornly fought to keep the dying startup independent. If it can\u2019t find funding or a buyer, SoundCloud could vaporize, destroying its massive archive of user-uploaded music, podcasts and other sounds.<\/p>\n

Investors would be forgiven their distrust since SoundCloud has burned over $230 million<\/a> in funding plus $70 million in debt with little monetization progress to show for it.<\/p>\n

[Update: At least this new funding deal would bring in new management. Recode<\/a> reports that former Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor would replace SoundCloud CEO Alex Ljung if investors do provide the funding.]<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Last month we detailed the many, MANY problems with SoundCloud.\u00a0<\/a>Employees told us the company is \u201ca shitshow,\u201d with a lack of product direction, talent leaving and employees secretly using Spotify.<\/p>\n

Rather than focus on its unique value proposition of being the \u201cYouTube for Audio\u201d with demos, DJ sets and remixes available nowhere else, SoundCloud chased dreams of grandeur as it tried to evolve into a Spotify competitor. But after taking years to negotiate deals with the major record labels, the extremely late $9.99 SoundCloud Go+ subscription service flopped. Meanwhile, it had burned credibility with core users like DJs by removing their music over dubious copyright claims while trying to suck up to the labels.<\/p>\n

SoundCloud lavishly spent money on offices around the world while its CEO galavanted at\u00a0music festivals like a rock star. SoundCloud recklessly wasted money, hiring people up until the moment it announced they\u2019d be immediately let go as part of the 173 layoffs<\/a> it announced last month. Now staff morale is in the toilet, the user experience is a mess, the subscription models are unappealing, competitors are growing rapidly and musicians are fleeing to other upload platforms.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it seems crazy for investors to fund a $170 million Series F to keep a sinking ship afloat a little longer unless SoundCloud is willing to swallow its pride and get acquired for whatever it can get.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

SoundCloud CEO Alex Ljung parties at Burning Man 2015 as his business sputters. Image via Cai Griffin<\/p>\n

We reached out to SoundCloud PR and its CEO for comment or clarity on the do-or-die fundraise, but didn\u2019t hear back.<\/p>\n

Investors\u2019 best bet is to fund a small bridge round just big enough for SoundCloud to shop itself around and find a buyer. Perhaps Google would buy it to align the YouTube of Audio with the YouTube of YouTube. Or Amazon could step in and try to do for musicians what it did for book authors by creating a convenient aggregated marketplace, though acquiring Pandora might better mesh with Amazon\u2019s mainstream demographic.<\/p>\n

SoundCloud has proven it can\u2019t manage itself. It\u2019s too damaged, too in debt and too far behind to thrive independently without a miracle turnaround. No matter what, the whole service is on shaky footing, so musicians may want to archive their audio and start promoting their presence somewhere safer.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Article source: http:\/\/feedproxy.google.com\/~r\/techcrunch\/social\/~3\/BEwG0lldNTg\/<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SoundCloud will soon collapse if investors don\u2019t vote for a rescue funding round tomorrow. The stumbling music streaming community site had to suddenly lay off 40 percent of its staff <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3],"tags":[10,7,14,15,6,12,11],"class_list":["post-8078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest-update","tag-computer-news","tag-downloads","tag-microsoft-download-news","tag-networking-updates","tag-technology-update","tag-wordpress-plugin-download","tag-wordpress-theme-download"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t