SoundCloud is seen as a coffee shop for musicians and their fans – Les Echos

Throw in the towel because the market is already streaming through Spotify, Apple Music, Google and Amazon may soon? This is not the spirit in which is the Berlin startup SoundCloud, which starts Tuesday in France, the first non-English speaking country where this is the case, both the paid model (SoundCloud GB) and a system for billing of advertising placed between the tracks streamed by users in free mode.

for Alexander Ljung, CEO and Swedish co-founder of the start-up born in 2008, the streaming market “is still in its infancy; So there is a lot of growth potential. ” And above all, SoundCloud is a model that can make a difference, he said during a visit to Paris last week. “SoundCloud is a bit like going into a coffee shop where musicians and fans meet, not only archives,” he said.

pieces of Kanye West posted unexpectedly

SoundCloud was actually first noticed by a “player” easily recognizable and embeddable in blogs, to play songs but also post comments to interact with other fans. It has also become the rendezvous of small labels and music specialists wanting to remix their creation available to fans, sometimes to the ire of the beneficiaries.

So, it boasts 175 million monthly users (Spotify has 90 million, 30 million fee) and 125 million tracks available (other sites have around 40 million). “Every month 12 million are played creators”, says Alexander Ljung, who adds that SoundCloud is also one of the first destinations of registered podcasts and books. SoundCloud is proof that the platform of the musicians: the rapper Kanye West will mail pieces unexpectedly (as he is a shareholder of the Tidal competitor). In addition, the musicians will choose the pieces that they make available to users free or paid, a first in the industry, ensures Alexander Ljung.

The financing facilities of nearly $ 100 million

While Spotify has raised a billion dollars in convertible bonds and other competitors have deep pockets, however, it is time to SoundCloud monetize its model. Especially since he has now put right with copyright holders, to whom he pays commissions. Alexander Ljung, this remix of mine that SoundCloud is very interested record companies because it is a way for them to sound their tracks on the Web. It is true that a group like Lilly Wood and the Prick increased tenfold its international reputation thanks to a remix of the song “Prayer in C” directed by a German DJ hitherto unknown.

The start-up is short on numbers. The press has echoed losses around € 40 million in 2014 to an income of 17 million. But according to its founder, the advertising revenues in the US, where the system was implemented in 2014, growing well. The paid service will bring meanwhile EUR 9.99 per month per user, like the others. There will probably pay a commission to a third party if SoundCloud looking to play the volume by partnering with a telecom operator, which could well be the case, even in France.

in the meantime, the group, which had been valued $ 700 million in 2014, would have according to Swedish news financing facilities of nearly $ 100 million granted by Tennenbaum Capital Partners, a US hedge fund.