Elon Musk’s track reaching the top 10 on SoundCloud isn’t the only recent big news for the Berlin-based company. It has also become abundantly clear that SiriusXM believes in the future of SoundCloud. SoundCloud announced Tuesday that Pandora owner SiriusXM is investing $75 million in audio streaming company. Furthermore, the investment is being used to enhance the existing services on SoundCloud. This includes helping product development for the largest open audio platform in the U.S. SiriusXM is also hoping the investment will fuel SoundCloud’s global community of creators and listeners.
Kerry Trainor, Chief Executive Officer of SoundCloud had this to say about the exciting news:
We have an exciting roadmap focused on deepening the connections between creators and listeners that fuel creator discovery, career growth and the evolution of music culture on SoundCloud. We’ve built a great relationship with SiriusXM through our highly successful Pandora ad sales agreement, and their investment gives us added capital flexibility to accelerate our vision and take advantage of strategic opportunities as they arise.
According to the terms of the agreement, SiriusXM will now have a minority stake in the Berlin-based company along with two seats on SoundCloud’s expanded board of directors.
The Future of Soundcloud
Notably, some of the most talked-about artists shaping music today have been discovered on SoundCloud. This includes Billie Eilish, Post Malone, Bad Bunny, Khalid, Lil Tecca, and others. This shows the potential of the platform, and the success of the platform to launch new artists’ careers. In 2019, SoundCloud also set all-time highs for platform engagement, creators heard, subscribers, and revenue. The company ended the year with its strongest financial performance ever which included a $200 million forward revenue run-rate for the first time in the fourth quarter of 2019.
All in all, this major investment is only going to help SoundCloud grow. Ending last year with its best financial performance ever combined with this major investment, SoundCloud seems ready for 2020.
