SoundCloud
Hozier earns first Billboard No. 1 hit with “Too Sweet”
He becomes the first Irish artist to top the Hot 100 since Sinéad O’Connor in 1990. Hozier Nabs First Billboard No. 1 Hit with “Too Sweet” Jonah Krueger
SoundCloud Revenue Rose 19% in 2021 Thanks to Subscriber Growth, Creator Tools Adoption
SoundCloud Holdings GmbH and its subsidiaries reported revenue in 2021 of 230.7 million euros ($273 million at the average exchange rate in 2021 of 1.18308), up 19% from the prior year, according to audited financial statements published by the privately held company in Germany on Tuesday (Dec. 13). SoundCloud, which originally gained popularity for its embeddable streaming widget, has a unique business model that mixes tools for music creators and listening for fans. Fan revenue — from advertising and subscriptions — improved 16.6% to 143.3 million euros ($170 million), or 62.2% of total revenue, down from 63.5% in 2020. Revenue from subscribers grew 20% year over year and exceeded internal expectations, according to the financial statements. Advertising revenue was in line with exp...
SoundCloud, Third & Hayden Team Up for Joint Venture
SoundCloud has linked up with Third & Hayden, the Atlanta management and services company founded by music exec Kei Henderson, for a joint venture, the companies announced today (Dec. 5). The new venture will see Third & Hayden signing new acts to its label and developing them with the help of SoundCloud’s services division, which will provide marketing, A&R, distribution and promotion support, as well as financial backing. The first two acts to sign to the new venture are Los Angeles singer/songwriter Jordan Hawkins and Atlanta-based rapper Key!. The deal is the latest for SoundCloud’s new roster initiative, which has previously inked a joint venture with Quality Control’s Solid Foundation Management to work on new acts and signed distribution deals with Lil Pump, Tekno and Al...
SoundCloud’s New Bot Allows Discord Users to Access Its 320 Million Tracks
SoundCloud is launching their very own Discord bot. The new integration will allow Discord server owners to add the bot so its users can more easily discover music within the instant messaging social platform. Discord users will be able to listen to recent tracks they’ve liked on SoundCloud, stream music from artists they follow on the platform and discover new music through its discovery algorithm based on tags, genres and moods. Once added, members will be able to search SoundCloud’s vast library of more than 320 million tracks—over three times more than Apple Music’s current catalog—without having to leave Discord. It’s worth noting that anybody can upload music and audio to SoundCloud, so there aren’t many barriers beyond its auto...
SoundCloud Rebrands Creator Services Platform to “SoundCloud for Artists”
SoundCloud’s creator services platform is operating under a new name: SoundCloud for Artists. The rebrand comes from one of the leading minds in establishing Spotify’s own Spotify for Artists platform. And as the saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Tracy Chan, SoundCloud’s Senior Vice President of Creator, was previously the former Head of Music at Twitch and served as the Director of Product Management at Spotify before that. Chan led the development of Spotify for Artists’ analytics platform, which empowers artists to glean insights about their fanbase and better engage their audience. Chan describes the mission of SoundCloud for Artists in similar terms, calling it “an elevated, all-in-one platform for artists to co...
Executive Turntable: Warner Records Names A&R VP; Exceleration Music Taps Legal Head
Sean Stevens was promoted to vp of A&R and head of research & analytics at Warner Records in Los Angeles; he was previously senior director. Exceleration Music named Jennifer Newman Sharpe as the company’s head of legal & business affairs and general counsel. Based in New York, Newman Sharpe will oversee the process of developing agreements and negotiating contracts across all areas of the business. Raoul Chatterjee, SoundCloud‘s vp of content partnerships and operations, announced he will exit the streaming platform effective Aug. 31 after more than 6 years with the company. His departure follows SoundCloud CEO Michael Weissman‘s announcement earlier this month that the company would be cutting “up to 20%” of staff. The Blues Foundation named Kimberly Horton interim president ...
SoundCloud, Warner Music Group Strike Deal on Fan-Powered Royalties
SoundCloud has finalized a deal with Warner Music Group that would allow WMG’s artists with songs on the SoundCloud platform the ability to get paid based on the number of individual users streaming their music, rather than by market share of total streams, sources tell Billboard. The revenue model is part of SoundCloud’s Fan-Powered Royalties initiative, which it launched last March with the aim of re-tooling how the platform doles out streaming revenue to rights holders and providing more detailed data to help support independent artists on the platform. In practice, it allows independent creators who own their rights and upload their works to SoundCloud through its Repost system the ability to get paid according to how many fans stream their music, rather than the current industry stand...
HHW Gaming: SoundCloud & ‘NBA 2K’ Announces Winners of 2K Beats The Search Contest
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: SoundCloud / NBA 2K These “SoundCloud rapper’s” dreams have come true thanks to the 2K Beats The Search Contest, which will now see their tracks live in NBA 2K22. Soundcloud and NBA 2K’s global music search for the next emerging artist for 2K Beats The Search Contest is over. Starting Friday (May 20), 4KPHIL, J Nolan, Jamari, KC Carter, Lulu Be., Neek, OttoMattic, Samad Savage, Shiwan, and Third Coast Chris were announced as the 10 artists joining the NBA 2K22 season 7 soundtrack. Fans will be able to enjoy the emerging artists’ songs while perusing NBA 2K22 menus in the updated playlist on SoundCloud. The chosen few were hand-selected by SoundCloud and NBA 2K from more than 15,000 submissions. They now join Aitch, Freddie Gibbs, Megan Thee Stallion,...
SoundCloud, Solid Foundation Management Form ‘Groundbreaking’ JV
SoundCloud and Solid Foundation Management form a joint venture that both parties hope, with its combined might, will weaponize more artists and unearth new talent. Described in a statement as “groundbreaking,” the alliance sees Solid Foundation parent QC Media Holdings’ invest in Soundcloud with an undisclosed sum. Also, QC Media co-founders Kevin “Coach K” Lee and Pierre “P” Thomas and their Solid Foundation artist management team, based in Atlanta, will work collaboratively with the SoundCloud to “identify, invest in, and foster the careers of artists featured.” “Coach K and P are two of the most influential voices in music, having identified, developed and grown some of the most successful hip-hop acts of our time,” comments Eliah Seton, president of SoundCloud. With this deal, Seton c...
SoundCloud Inks First-Ever A&R Partnerships With T-Pain’s Label, Linda Perry & More
Repost and Nappy Boy Entertainment will first support signee SprngBrk, an artist and producer who has collaborated with the likes of Ty Dolla $ign and Drake and is releasing the new track “Pride” today. Repost will work alongside Perry — who has written and produced hits for artists like P!nk, Christina Aguilera and Gwen Stefani — on the British singer-songwriter Frances Lion, who is signed to Perry’s record label, publishing, management and production firm We Are Hear. “I’m always ready to jump on board when I see a company supporting the independence of an artist, and when I heard of the changes SoundCloud wanted to make to support emerging talent, I immediately said ‘count me in,'” Perry said. “We will be focusing on the art and the ...
SoundCloud Names Drew Wilson COO & CFO
In his new role, Wilson will oversee all of SoundCloud’s finance and operations, including workplace and people function. He’ll report directly to SoundCloud CEO Michael Weissman, who was tapped to succeed Kerry Trainor in the role in December 2020. Wilson’s hire comes amid a host of recent changes at the streaming service, including the recent introduction of a “user-centric” royalty system for some of its artists, which pays out based on how many fans listen to their music as opposed to the number of times it gets streamed. That implementation, which is slated to coincide with Wilson’s first day on the job on April 1, will make SoundCloud the first major streaming platform to pivot away from the stream-based royalty payment system that has long been the standard among DSPs. So...
SoundCloud’s New Fan-Powered Royalty Model Could Shake Up Music Streaming Forever
After years of platform reformation and corporate restructuring, audio distribution platform SoundCloud has announced a new fan-powered royalty model, which the company touts as a “game-changing” innovation to empower independent artists. The new model is predicated on fan bases, whose streaming activity will drive and dictate payout rates to the artists they listen to. With the ambitious move, SoundCloud will distribute a portion of its users’ subscription payments and accrued advertising revenue to the musicians they listen to on the platform, with the objective of supporting independent artists with loyal fans. The model could serve as a harbinger for the future of music streaming. “SoundCloud is uniquely positioned to offer this transformativ...
- 1
- 2
