SoundCloud is cutting about 40 percent of its staff in a cost-cutting move the digital music service says will give it a better financial footing to compete against larger rivals Spotify and Apple.
SoundCloud, which in January said it was at risk of running out of money, informed staff Thursday that 173 jobs would be eliminated. It had 420 employees. The company’s operations will be consolidated at its headquarters in Berlin and another office in New York. Offices in San Francisco and London will be shut.
“We need to ensure our path to long-term, independent success,” Alex Ljung, the company’s co-founder and chief executive officer, said in a blog post published on SoundCloud’s website. He said the company has doubled its revenue over the past 12 months — without providing specifics — and that the cuts put it on a path to profitability.
SoundCloud has about 175 million listeners who are drawn to its expansive library of songs, dance mixes, podcasts and other user-generated content uploaded by artists ranging from established stars to bedroom DJs. Popular among young music fans, artists such as Chance the Rapper post material to site before it’s released elsewhere, while record labels use it to scout new talent.
