Will Soundcloud Even Be Around In 5 Years?

Soundcloud has been an amazing service for independent artists, podcasters and musicians from all genres of music.

By acting as a cloud storage/music streaming service, creators are able to upload their works, and play them back to their audience, for free of cost.

Soundcloud is a great resource, without a doubt. But did you know that all of your works could disappear from the Internet if Soundcloud can’t get its business together?
If you didn’t know, the streaming company is in some financial trouble and is losing millions of dollars each month.
The rumors about the company’s future grew so much that last week, Soundcloud released a statement addressing their financial status head on.
In addition to signing hundreds of new licensing deals with major and independent labels, the company secured $77 million in additional funding.
“We’re focusing on enabling creators to get paid for their creativity, and on building a financially sustainable platform that our community can enjoy for years to come,” Soundcloud said in a statement.

SoundCloud founders Alex Ljung and Eric Wahlforss.

SoundCloud founders Alex Ljung and Eric Wahlforss.


Over 18 million creators use the platform for 175 million monthly listeners.
But the type of content that could once be found on Soundcloud will be drastically changed thanks to the plan, which aims to turn around the company’s losses, which reached $44 million in 2014.

“As I’ve always said, the music streaming environment is set up to favor big-name artists and the labels supporting them. It’s awfully hard to turn a profit without that system in place.” – Brett Weiser-Schlesinger, The Daily Orange

Ultimately, Soundcloud’s business model is doomed for failure because it’s abandoning what made them successful – their relationship with independent artists, in favor of major label interests.
As the company solidifies its relationships with the majors over copyright infringement on the platform, massive takedown notices have been sent to DJs, podcasters and other creators who may have been using other people’s material to create new works.
“SoundCloud could very well fail, along with all the other upstart music streaming platforms without flashy record deals to show,” said Brett Weiser-Schlesinger. “Or, it could find a way to turn its downward spiral around. Without a direction, though, it’s dead in the water with the rest of them.”
Thousands of tracks have already disappeared due to copyright infringement issues and millions more could go with Soundcloud if the company tanks.
Remember all of the pictures and music you lost when Myspace went bust!? Start backing up your SoundCloud account now!