Hey everyone,

Recently you heard me say SoundCloud isn’t going away. And today I’m here to tell you the exact same thing once again. In all caps.

I’m happy to announce that together with investors The Raine Group and Temasek we’ve just wrapped up the largest financing round in the history of SoundCloud. This financing means SoundCloud remains strong & independent. As I said, SoundCloud is here to stay.

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been moved by the outpouring of commentary around SoundCloud’s unique & crucial role in driving what global culture is today (and what it will become tomorrow). You’ve told me how, without SoundCloud, there would be a giant gaping void in today’s world of music. We can’t have that, and I’m happy to once again say that won’t be happening.

I’m excited to also announce that this new partnership also brings talent to our SoundCloud family. From prior Vimeo-fame (a platform we love!) comes Kerry Trainor and Mike Weissman, two awesome leaders who will be joining SoundCloud as CEO and COO, respectively.

Wait, CEO? Am I leaving? No, absolutely not. After a decade of balancing the roles of Founder, CEO and Chairman I’m excited to hand the CEO reins over to Kerry to allow me to fully focus on the role of the Chairman and the long-term. This, I know, sets us up as an even greater team  for the decade(s) to come.

10 years ago SoundCloud was just an idea Eric and I bounced around. Today it’s a platform essential to the shaping of songs, artists, genres and global culture. I can’t fathom how we’ve been so lucky as to create that. But what’s even better is this: we’re all just getting started. The first 10 years are done, and now we’re onto decade II.

SoundCloud, just like music, will continue to evolve, but importantly, both will always be a key part of life.

Alexander Ljung
Founder & Chairman, SoundCloud

Eric and I founded SoundCloud nearly 10 years ago as we saw a need for something that would enable artists to share and connect through music. As we hovered together back in 2008 to push the button that would make SoundCloud live for the entire world, we had no idea the impact our, then tiny, platform would have on the future of music culture, and millions of listeners and artists around the globe.

In the competitive world of music streaming, we’ve spent the last several years growing our business, and more than doubled our revenue in the last 12 months alone. However, we need to ensure our path to long-term, independent success. And in order to do this, it requires cost cutting, continued growth of our existing advertising and subscription revenue streams, and a relentless focus on our unique competitive advantage — artists and creators.

With more focus and a need to think about the long term, comes tough decisions. Today, after careful and painful consideration, we took the difficult step to let go of 173 SoundCloud staffers and consolidated the team into two offices: Berlin and New York. We are extremely grateful for the contributions of each and every staff member who will be leaving SoundCloud, and we wish all of them the best. Without them, we would not be where we are today.

By reducing our costs and continuing our revenue growth, we’re on our path to profitability and in control of SoundCloud’s independent future.

So what does this mean for SoundCloud? The SoundCloud platform listeners and artists love will remain available in more than 190 countries globally. SoundCloud will continue to be the place for what’s new, now and next in music, powered by the world’s most diverse music community. I look forward to sharing more about our future plans in the weeks and months ahead.

Alex