Beloved audio-hosting website SoundCloud might be up shit creek with nary a paddle to be seen, if reports out today stating the company only has enough money for about 50 more days are anything to go by.
Often referred to as the audio equivalent of YouTube, SoundCloud is hugely popular in the music and podcasting industries, with the easy-to-use streaming platform widely used by up and coming musicians trying to get their tunes out and about.
The site has also in recent times given birth to its own unique sub-genre of music, called SoundCloud Rap, after an explosion in DIY hip-hop artists and producers uploading their ~fresh beats~ to the platform evolved into its own community of wannabe Kanyes.
TechCrunch revealed yesterday however that SoundCloud’s days may be literally numbered, after the news that 40% of its staff have been let go was followed by reports that management had informed remaining employees they only have enough dollarydoos in the bank to keep them alive till the next financial quarter a.k.a. October.
The news comes after a rough couple of years for the company, which has stuggled to properly monetise SoundCloud’s offerings even with its huge amount of users.
Despite management assuring users they don’t forsee the site shutting down anytime soon, many are rightly shitting themselves, with some already starting the process of backing up the content they’ve uploaded, fearing it all might disappear if and when SoundCloud’s servers get the plugs pulled.
Time to start migrating my triple j review back catalogue to another platform… https://t.co/5utmCgC1F4
— Marc Fennell (@MarcFennell) July 13, 2017
If SoundCloud were to cark it, the effect on the music industry will not be small, and this is without mentioning the fallout of the potential loss of what some have estimated to be about a petabyte of data (that’s one million gigabytes FYI) in songs, podcasts, radio shows and the like.
Then again maybe Chance the Rapper will swoop in and somehow save SoundCloud. That’d be neat:
I’m working on the SoundCloud thing
— Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) July 13, 2017
Thx Chance, love you.
Source: TechCrunch
Picture: Alexander Tamrahgo / Getty.
Picture: Alexander Tamrahgo / Getty.
