SoundCloud reportedly in talks with record labels to stem copyright claims

Both listeners and uploaders would likely agree that SoundCloud is becoming the main hub on the internet for user-created audio content. However, it seems as if the company may be looking to grow beyond that. According to Re/code, SoundCloud has started approaching "big music labels" in hopes of landing licensing deals for "some of their songs." While a number of copyrighted tunes can already be found on the site (see above), the music labels still have full control and can easily take down any media that isn't supposed to be there. For SoundCloud users, this would signify having access to a more robust library of songs from known artists, while the record companies would benefit by taking a chunk of money in exchange for a licensing agreement. It could be a bold move for SoundCloud, but with investors recently showing they have quite a lot of faith in it, perhaps the service isn't far off from coming to terms with the almighty music labels.

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Via: The Verge

Source: Re/code

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SoundCloud Raises $60 Million At $700 Million Valuation

SoundCloud recently closed a Series D round of funding led by Institutional Venture Partners with the Chernin Group. The Wall Street Journal first reported the news. It has since been confirmed by IVP and SoundCloud. Previous investors also participated in the round, including Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GGV Capital, Index Ventures and Union Square Ventures.

SoundCloud’s ultimate goal is to become the audio platform of the web, or the YouTube of audio. Just like YouTube, user-generated content remains the startup’s fuel. Every minute, 12 hours of sound and music are uploaded to the platform. For comparison’s sake, YouTube reports 100 hours of content uploaded every minute.

Many up-and-coming electronic music artists use g SoundCloud to release mixtapes and share them around the web. Well-known musicians also release singles or live recordings on the platform to share them with their fans on Twitter or Facebook. In other words, SoundCloud is the perfect place to transform a music file into a URL and embeddable music player.

Seeing American VC firms putting a lot of faith in a European startup is a big win for the Berlin startup scene.

Back in October at Disrupt Europe, SoundCloud co-founder and CEO Alexander Ljung said that the company was focused on growth and engagement.

That’s why it simplified its premium offering. “The big thing when we made that change is that we went from four different account levels with a fairly wide range of pricing to two different levels with a smaller range,” Ljung said.

With a free account, you can upload up to 2 hours of music, while the most expensive plan allows you to upload an unlimited amount of music for $12 a month (

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