I think I already know the answer, but I’m going to pose the question anyway for rhetorical purposes: remember late last year when Spotify was reportedly in serious talks to purchase SoundCloud? Spotify backed out of that theoretical deal even later last year according to TechCrunch, and the unofficial reason had to do with the Stockholm- and London-based streaming service preparing to go public in 2017. An acquisition as large as SoundCloud would’ve complicated that process according to my non-expert brain, and a couple of months ago, when the deal imploded, a Spotify source told TechCrunch that it didn’t need “an additional licensing headache in a potential IPO year.” Oh, what could’ve been and what ultimately wasn’t due to legitimate, albeit suited concerns.
What’s the oft-repeated consequence of “snoozing”? With Spotify now temporarily out of the picture, Music Business Worldwide is now reporting “high-level rumors” that the omnipresent Google is now the top contender to purchase SoundCloud. The rumored price of $500M is a notable slice from the $1B that SoundCloud was allegedly seeking from Spotify, so apparently this is a transaction for which SoundCloud execs seem to be semi-desperately itching, especially given their reported losses. It’s actually kind of exciting to think about what Google could do with SoundCloud, given their tentacles and Android development in particular.
I guess, stay tuned?
More about: Google, SoundCloud
