In a move to stay in line with the competitiveness of Apple Music and Spotify, SoundCloud has cut 40% of its staff. The San Francisco and London offices will be shut down, Bloomberg reports.
On Thursday (July 6), SoundCloud informed their staff of 420 that 173 jobs would be eliminated. The streaming service is looking to have a “better financial footing to compete” with the other platforms.
“We need to ensure our path to long-term, independent success,” Alex Ljung, co-founder and chief executive officer of SoundCloud, wrote in a blog post on SoundCloud’s website. “And in order to do this, it requires cost cutting, continued growth of our existing advertising and subscription revenue streams, and a relentless focus on our unique competitive advantage — artists and creators.”
The majority of the music on SoundCloud is available free to its more than 175 million listeners. The company added a subscription tier last year, but it reportedly hasn’t done too well with SoundCloud users.
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“We are extremely grateful for the contributions of each and every staff member who will be leaving SoundCloud, and we wish all of them the best,” Ljung continued in his note. “Without them, we would not be where we are today.”
