Spotify is reportedly interested in buying out the music streaming giant SoundCloud. If this deal goes through, not only will Spotify gain a huge asset in SoundCloud, but they will also be digging further into the marketshare of streaming services – much of which is being slowly taken up by Apple Music. As the digital frontier of music continues to expand, we see streaming services desperately trying find the next big thing to lure in new costumers or detract existing ones from it’s competitors. Remember when Apple bought out Beats Music? They absorbed an entire company, including their catalogues. This is something that could happen with the new Spotify deal. Last valued at $700 million, SoundCloud began as a tool for anyone to put their music on the internet for consumption. With SoundCloud facing pressures from music labels, it introduced its ‘SoundCloud Go’ service that never really panned out. With Spotify announcing it had surpassed 40 million paid subscribers (Apple Music at 17 million) last month, does this acquisition suggest Spotify might be getting ready to go public?
