SoundCloud owners reportedly ready to sell in 2024; $1B+ expected

SoundCloud, which has fashioned itself “the YouTube of audio,” will reportedly be on the acquisition market in 2024, according to a report in Sky News. SoundCloud is the leading crowdfunded music showcase and streaming listening platform, founded in 2007. Over 40-million musicians and labels upload to the platform, contributing to a catalog of 320-million tracks. Continue Reading

With Spotify’s recent raise, major music services are settled at $10.99 subscription level

Spotify made news during its Q2 earnings report (See RAIN HERE and HERE) for raising its monthly Spotify Premium subscription rate from $9.99 to $10.99. Investor reaction, as a whole, could be characterized as “It’s about time.” Our survey of current music subscription pricing does support some investor impatience with Spotify, with six competing services having already boosted to that level.
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SiriusXM combines acquired sales orgs to create SXM Media, reaching 150M listeners

Today audio juggernaut SiriusXM is announcing the merger of three internal sales divisions attached to Sirius, Pandora, and Stitcher. Unifying the three ad sales entities creates a marketplace of 150-million listeners across a constellation of satellite programming, lean-back streaming music, and podcasting. The newly combined unit is called SXM Media. Continue Reading

SoundCloud (unsurprisingly) picks AdsWizz for exclusive ad-repping in 14 Euro markets

AdsWizz is trumpeting a major get — Berlin-HQ’d global streamer SoundCloud has chosen the U.S.-HQ’d global ad-tech company AdsWizz to exclusively represent digital audio ad sales in significant European markets. This deal has an in-house feeling; AdsWizz is a subsidiary of Pandora, which is owned by Sirius XM, which also owns 30% of SoundCloud.  Continue Reading

Australia’s SCA enjoys jump in streaming metrics

Southern Cross Austerio (SCA) has  released a  basket of bragging-rights metrics for key streaming properties. SCA’s live streaming audience has grown 58% year-over-year, and the company says that digital audio is its fastest growing advertising platform. The combined streaming for SCA networks reached an audience of 1.5-million in September. The total digital audio network includes the two main broadcast networks, Hit and Triple M, and also Soundcloud Radio. Click through for graphs and links. Continue Reading

SiriusXM: Streaming, acquisitions, and the uncertainty of podcasting

In its recent Q2 earnings call, Sirius XM discussed streaming, its multiple acquisitions, and podcasting in some detail. Remarks about podcasting are quite interesting, somewhat shading the industry as young and largely immature, while evangelizing the production and marketing power of SiriusXM. Click through for many quotes. Continue Reading

SoundCloud, Pandora, and Facebook roll out new content and features for artist support amid pandemic

With many artists struggling to make ends meet as the coronavirus pandemic drags on, more and more audio companies are promoting their tools to help them better reach listeners and continue to make money. There have been several moves in this space in the past week, so here’s a round-up of what’s happening where. Continue Reading