Twitter And SoundCloud, Are They Or Aren't They?

So, the techie rumour mill is churning with news that Twitter may be in talks to purchase SoundCloud. For those who don’t already know what SoundCloud is, it’s an online audio platform which allows sound creators to record, upload, share and promote their music. For music lovers, SoundCloud is the go-to-site, with the latest mixes from DJs, both professional and amateur, regularly uploaded.

Twitter are said to be seriously considering purchasing SoundCloud, the audio platform site

The site, which is based in Berlin, Germany (not a surprise, considering Berlin is the music capital of Europe), has become known as the YouTube for audio. It was reported earlier in the week that Twitter is allegedly “considering a deal” to buy SoundCloud. Soon after the rumours surfaced reports emerging claiming that the social media site had decided to pass. Neither Twitter nor SoundCloud have commented, so it’s still unclear about whether the deal is a possibility or not.

But just why would Twitter have considered the deal in the first place? What would the social media site have to gain? Well firstly, Twitter have made attempts to merge more closely with the music industry in the past. They launched their very own #Music app, which was removed from the app store last month after a pretty unsuccessful run. Secondly, the rapid growth of SoundCloud, which now have around 250 million global users, would add to the growth of Twitter.

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The acquisition would likely be a very costly move, as SoundCloud was valued at around $700million last year and is regularly growing. But the question is, would SoundCloud bite if Twitter were to make an offer? What benefits would the deal hold for the audio platform site? Twitter has been hugely successful in the past at selling ads, which is a weak point of SoundCloud. Analyst Brian Blau explained: “If SoundCloud can get a favourable music licensing deal to make right how their users get access to published songs, then we could see that music become even more deeply embedded into Twitter apps.”

Although there seems like quite a lot to gain on both sides, it’s still reported that the deal isn’t set to go through. Rumours are rumours though, and you never know, the next thing we may hear is that the deal has gone through without a glitch. Will SoundCloud shortly be known as #SoundCloud? Let’s hope if the deal does take place that the successful site manages to maintain its own identity. Too many smallers apps and sites are swallowed into larger ones and end up losing the character that made them so popular to begin with.

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