Soundcloud is an online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 that allows artists to share their music and listeners to discover new artists. While it has over 175 million tracks uploaded and 15 million monthly users, it has yet to be profitable. Its business model includes paid subscriptions for artists and listeners, as well as advertisements. It has raised over $200 million from investors but may fail to survive in the competitive music streaming industry dominated by Spotify and Apple Music.

1. Charu Dwivedi (cdwivedi)

2. Problem: Connecting new
upcoming artists to listeners
Product:

3. Financials
Is the company profitable? Not yet
- Feb 2018
- July 2017

4. Business Model
Soundcloud Go: Listeners, $9.99/Month
Soundcloud Pro: Uploaders: $7/Month
Soundcloud Pro Unlimited: $15/Month
Advertisements

5. Timeline
August 2007 - Founded in Berlin by CEO Alex Ljung and Eric Wahlforss
April 2009 - Raised €2.5m in Series A Round
May 2012 - Had 15m users, growing at 1.5m users per month
May 2014 - Rumors of Twitter acquiring Soundcloud
March 2016 - Soundcloud releases Soundcloud Go
September 2016 - Spotify in talks with acquiring Soundcloud
August 2018 - Soundcloud raises $169.5m in Series F with Raine Group and
Temasek, Alex Ljung steps down as CEO

6. Secret Sauce
Large User Base
Free uploads for artists and content developers

7. Competition in the Music
Streaming Industry
Artist Uploads Listener Pricing Profitable Exclusivity
Free Free/Subscription No No
Distributor/Label Free/Subscription IPO Semi
Distributor/Label Subscription Yes Yes

8. My Prediction
No
But the failure of Soundcloud will leave a huge void in the
music streaming ecosystem.

9. Sources
http://fortune.com/2017/07/23/soundcloud-music-streaming-troubles/
https://soundcloud.com/stream
https://www.musicbusinessworldwide.com/laying-off-173-employees-soundcloud-really-path-profitability/
https://www.fastcompany.com/3066996/soundcloud-vows-growth-in-2017-but-time-is-running-out
https://medium.com/@DerenJBaker/how-soundcloud-lost-its-way-666e8b60d382
https://www.quora.com/How-does-Soundcloud-make-money-1
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SoundCloud
https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/soundcloud#section-funding-rounds
https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/06/24/apple-music-might-become-more-profitable.aspx