Re:SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses
by pbhjpbhj on Thursday February 11, 2016 @10:53AM
(#11080822)
Do they have public accounts? I can't understand what SoundCloud could spend $60M USD on? Apparently they have over 300 employees, what do they do all day? Clearly I don't understand their operation.
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Re:SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses
by TheOtherHobbes on Thursday February 11, 2016 @11:49AM
(#11081269)
According to the 2014 accounts the employees earn a little less than €100,000 each, on average. So there's a huge wage bill.
I have no idea what they do either. Legal compliance - DMCAs, and avoiding DMCAs - seems to be a big problem. But I don't understand why they need 300 people to work on that.
if they raised $77m last year that gives them another year or two of runway. But given the continuing losses the current business model doesn't seem to be working, and the burn rate is too high for long term survival without real income growth.
As a user, I love finding music on SC. But I worry they'll try to make the site yet another pay-to-play streaming service, which will kill most of the interest.
Becoming a sales site seems like a better move. IMO there's a big niche for a Bandcamp-but-better site just waiting to be filled.
Re:SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses
by zdkl on Thursday February 11, 2016 @04:16PM
(#11083327)
I'd guess interfacing with music labels and copyright holders must be a special kind of tedious. Seems to be a recurring problem of music platforms who don't fit the industry's royalty model