[UPDATED] Spotify is reportedly in advance talks to buy Soundcloud. We’d heard months ago that Soundcloud was hemorrhaging cash, after efforts to monetize had been slowed by label talks. The labels said yes, but perhaps too late; and the way out may be to sell.
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Spotify is in advanced talks to acquire rival SoundCloud, according to the Financial Times. An announcement of the deal could be made very soon, according to the Times’ sources.
The deal would give Spotify access to Soundcloud’s active base of 175 million monthly users (as of Dec. 2014) including 10 million creators and their 125 million tracks. Spotify, has 40 million paid users alongside as many as 100 million free users and 35 million licensed tracks.
Soundcloud was valued at $700 million in June of 2016. That included a $70 million investment from Twitter, which is itself in sale talks with Disney, Google and several others.