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SoundCloud is a Swedish-founded online audio distribution platform and music sharing site based in Berlin, Germany, that enables its users to upload, promote, and offer audio, just as a DSP enabling listeners to stream audio. Started in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud has become one of the largest music streaming services. SoundCloud offers both free and paid membership on the platform, available for desktop and mobile phones.
SoundCloud has impacted the music industry through the achievement of many artists who have used the service to launch or advance their careers. SoundCloud has gotten support from many investors and other media platforms, for example, Twitter, although the streaming platform itself has unsolved funding issues and has dismissed many employees to stay beneficial.
In April 2009, SoundCloud got €2.5 million Series A funding from Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures. In May 2010, SoundCloud declared it had 1,000,000 users. In January 2011, it was reported that SoundCloud had raised US$10 million Series B funding from Union Square Ventures and Index Ventures. On 15 June 2011, SoundCloud reported 5,000,000 registered users and investments from Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary's A-Grade Fund, and on 23 January 2012, it reported 10 million registered users. In May 2012, it was reported that SoundCloud had 15 million clients, and site usage was expanding by 1.5 million users per month.
SoundCloud reported in January 2014 that it had started licensing negotiations with major music companies to address the issue of unauthorised, copyrighted material regularly appearing on the platform. The announcement followed a round of funding in which US$60 million was raised, resulting in a $700 million valuation. According to media sources, the negotiations were initiated in an attempt to avoid similar problems faced by Google, which had been forced to deal with an enormous number of take down notices on its YouTube video-sharing platform.
In Spring 2017, SoundCloud initially faced being sold after not raising the $100 million needed to support the platform. The initial evaluation of SoundCloud at $700 million didn't hold as strong to investors after their financial shortages. In May 2019, SoundCloud purchased artist distribution platform Repost Network. In January 2020, a 75 million US-Dollar distribution platform by Sirius XM was announced.
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