SoundCloud

SoundCloud operates as an artist-centric platform that aims to equip independent artists with essential tools, services, and resources to foster the development and expansion of their careers. SoundCloud holds the distinction of being the world's largest platform for discovering audio content. On SoundCloud, artists have the ability to upload their tracks and share them through their social networks. Furthermore, they can promote their releases, engage with their fan base, and even generate income through monetization opportunities once they meet the eligibility criteria. As of June 2023, SoundCloud had a collection of over 250 million tracks contributed by 30 million artists spanning 193 countries.

In May 2023, SoundCloud unveiled a new tool called Fans , aimed at enhancing artist-fan interaction. This product enables artists to directly message their followers and organize their listeners based on various engagement metrics. This was followed by the introduction of a TikTok-like feed, allowing users to discover tracks by vertically scrolling through the Discover feed, in March 2023.

SoundCloud’s unique features include its fan-powered royalties (FPR), introduced in March 2021, which is designed to benefit independent artists with dedicated fan bases. Unlike traditional models, FPR operates by allocating the advertising revenue and royalties from each listener's subscription exclusively to the tracks they have listened to within a given month, based on the proportion of streams received. This user-centric approach creates a direct financial connection between artists and their fans. The FPR model was successfully tested on thousands of artists, with 135,000 artists receiving payments through the system by April 2022. Warner Music Group became the first major label to adopt this model in partnership with SoundCloud in July 2022.

In May 2022, SoundCloud made a strategic acquisition of Musiio, a company specializing in AI music curation. This acquisition aimed to enhance SoundCloud's music discovery capabilities.

Key customers and partners

In May 2023, SoundCloud announced a successful collaboration with Merlin, a global licensing agency, to extend the implementation of FPR to all artists and members associated with Merlin. In July 2023, the firm partnered with SquareSpace, Adobe, Discord, and Rap Plug to expand its SoundCloud for Artists: Member Benefits program, to improve member benefits.

Funding and financials

SoundCloud's most recent funding round took place in February 2020, during which it secured USD 75 million in investment from SiriusXM, a prominent satellite radio company and the owner of Pandora, a major streaming platform that has an advertising partnership with SoundCloud.