SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses • Hacker News Board

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#101

Post by kevcampb » Thu, Feb 11, 2016, 3:30 PM UTC

raesene4 wrote: post #36

rgbrenner wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

one excerpt of their P&L does not equal "excerpts from their financial accounts" (plural). And again, it's from 2014. For all we know Soundcloud was profitable last year. Maybe it's not likely.. but the article has no information at all on last year, yet they feel comfortable making this statement. The auditor statement is standard boilerplate. It applies to every company that is losing money. That's right -- if the…

there are two excerpts from their financial accounts in there if that makes you any happier (and justifies my use of the plural :) one from the P&L and one from the staffing section The article is working on what's publicly available (there's a surprise), as they can hardly work on what Soundcloud hasn't released! My guess would be that if Soundcloud had managed to get into profitability that quickly then soundcloud…

Wait... _BETA_.companieshouse.gov.uk? Company records available for free? A website that is online 24x7 and doesn't close at night?

I've obviously been living under a rock

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#102

Post by scheda » Thu, Feb 11, 2016, 3:30 PM UTC

strgrd wrote: post #14

I've been a daily soundcloud user for almost 6 years. At some point they gave up on trying to change or improve the user experience. Soundcloud has done nothing to facilitate the growth of users who focus on reposting/finding/sharing/curating content, vs. content creators who upload their own music. There is no way to gain a following or reputation as someone who reposts content on soundcloud -- and even if you have…

Disclaimer: I know these guys through TechStars.

I see a lot of complaints about stagnation on SoundCloud, and while I'm not a user, I completely understand the frustration that brings.

There's a new kid on the block with these kind of services, clyp.it. I liken them to imgur for audio, focusing around music for the most part.

They've got strong ties to the community and even have some big names using their tool like Eric Clapton.

The community aspects are still being worked out, but I know they're actively looking for feedback to help build that out to be the best it can be.

If you check them out and have suggestions, I know they'd love to hear it (There's a link to their twitter on their site)

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#103

Post by cmyr » Thu, Feb 11, 2016, 3:35 PM UTC

Soundcloud is absolutely ubiquitous in the electronic music community. I was talking about this with a friend recently who is a programmer and a (relatively) well known composer, and she made the point that soundcloud actually represents a very important cultural document; there is tons of music that has been created in the past 5+ years that exists exclusively there, and it would be a tremendous cultural loss if it were to disappear. This is something I haven't heard a great deal about, and it's something that concerns me about other media platforms like Medium.

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#104

Post by tudorizer » Thu, Feb 11, 2016, 3:36 PM UTC

cmyr wrote: post #103

Soundcloud is absolutely ubiquitous in the electronic music community. I was talking about this with a friend recently who is a programmer and a (relatively) well known composer, and she made the point that soundcloud actually represents a very important cultural document; there is tons of music that has been created in the past 5+ years that exists exclusively there, and it would be a tremendous cultural loss if it…

Are any of your friends paying for SoundCloud?

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#105

Post by longwave » Thu, Feb 11, 2016, 3:38 PM UTC

anotheryou wrote: post #29

What do 200 people do in such a company? (serious question, I just wonder how the workforce is usually distributed for a single online product of that size)

The company accounts [1] break this down a bit, reporting the staff numbers as 123 "builders", 73 "operators" and 40 "pushers".

A slide deck about SoundCloud [2] explains that "builders" are the design, engineering and product teams, "operators" are finance, HR and legal, and "pushers" are the platform, community, content and marketing teams.

[1] https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/06343600/filing-h... [2] http://www.slideshare.net/dagrobie/16-months-soundcloud/5-Or...

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#106

Post by TheLogothete » Thu, Feb 11, 2016, 3:39 PM UTC

taylorwc wrote: post #79

npalli wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The auditor has clearly stated that it has doubts about the company as a 'going concern'. This is a technical term in auditing that implies the auditor has doubts that the company will survive (i.e, will have to liquidate) another twelve months. It's not a willy nilly "growing company is losing money" type statement, it means there is a fundamental problem in how the company is financed and operated. https://en.wikip…

Auditors are required to issue such statements when there is no line of sight to the company being solvent (and no one can guarantee that the company can close a financing round.) I'd venture a guess that almost every startup at a similar stage to SoundCloud would have the same issue if they are audited.

Soundcloud is almost 10 years old. At what point a company stops being a startup? At what point it stops being feasible for a company to operate at a loss?

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#107

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Feb 11, 2016, 3:41 PM UTC

gryzzly wrote: post #62

camillomiller wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still don't think it will happen. Worst case scenario, someone's gonna make a very nice deal when buying them. What alarms me is the amount of Teslas, Mercedes-AMG M models and other kind of extremely expensive cars parked in their parking lots and in the area surrounding their HQ here in Berlin. In the last one and a half year I've witnessed such a crescendo of the car show-off level that's I'm worried about their…

You can't even consider buying a car like that with 80k in Berlin, after tax and insurances it becomes ~40k and if you got an expat family and possibly kids that’s enough for owning a bicycle and an OK flat and feeding your family. The offices are rented from an incubator with ties to the gov that has space in the building (and come to have meetings there with their expensive cars).

[deleted]

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#108

Post by cmyr » Thu, Feb 11, 2016, 3:41 PM UTC

tudorizer wrote: post #104

cmyr wrote: post #103

Soundcloud is absolutely ubiquitous in the electronic music community. I was talking about this with a friend recently who is a programmer and a (relatively) well known composer, and she made the point that soundcloud actually represents a very important cultural document; there is tons of music that has been created in the past 5+ years that exists exclusively there, and it would be a tremendous cultural loss if it…

Are any of your friends paying for SoundCloud?

Yes, the majority of people I know who are 'professional' electronic musicians/DJs have a pro account.

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#109

Post by leroy_masochist » Thu, Feb 11, 2016, 3:41 PM UTC

While I understand the appeal for Soundcloud as a platform for people to get their music "out there" (especially with EDM), I personally don't like the UX at all. The big gripe I have is that the categories are often jacked up. I'm a big metal fan and almost half of the songs in the "Metal" category do not remotely meet that description.....as in, dubstep remixes of Taylor Swift songs and crap like that.

Re: SoundCloud could be forced to close after $44m losses

#110

Post by aback » Thu, Feb 11, 2016, 3:42 PM UTC

cmyr wrote: post #103

Soundcloud is absolutely ubiquitous in the electronic music community. I was talking about this with a friend recently who is a programmer and a (relatively) well known composer, and she made the point that soundcloud actually represents a very important cultural document; there is tons of music that has been created in the past 5+ years that exists exclusively there, and it would be a tremendous cultural loss if it…

when people argue that "digital distribution is essentially free," then ask why Soundcloud is losing money, since distributing music is literally their only real cost of doing business.

we will continue to endure substantial cultural losses for so long as people continue to believe that content can & should be distributed and consumed for free.

ultimately some sort of micropayments + blockchain-like-cloudserving might replace Spotify, Soundcloud, and all other streaming services with a decentralized system in which listeners compensate artists directly.

until then the promise of disintermediation is just a fantasy. gatekeepers on the Internet control access to most content, particularly music.