SoundCloud's CEO is trying to stop rumours it's shutting down

SoundCloud CEO and Mike Butcher

Troubled music streaming service SoundCloud has said rumours around its possible closure are "noise", and that the company was "here to stay."

Cofounder and CEO Alex Ljung wrote a post on Friday titled "SoundCloud is here to stay", 10 days after announcing the startup was cutting 40% of its staff.

The company also reportedly only has enough cash to last until the fourth quarter.

It's generally bad news when a startup has to cut almost half its staff and says it is running out of money. But Ljung did his best to quell speculation that his company was about to shut down.

He wrote: "There’s an insane amount of noise about SoundCloud in the world right now. And it’s just that, noise.

"The music you love on SoundCloud isn’t going away, the music you shared or uploaded isn’t going away, because SoundCloud is not going away. Not in 50 days, not in 80 days or anytime in the foreseeable future. Your music is safe."

There's a curious extra dimension to the drama involving Chance the Rapper.

The musician tweeted on Thursday: "I'm working on the SoundCloud thing."

Late on Friday, he said he had spoken with Alex Ljung directly.

Just had a very fruitful call with Alex Ljung. @SoundCloud is here to stay.
— Lil Chano From 79th (@chancetherapper) July 14, 2017

The musician then dropped an exclusive release on SoundCloud.

It isn't clear if the musician might have given some extra financial support to the company, but he's credited the platform for helping upcoming artists gain stardom in the past.

Here's Alex Ljung's full post:

Hey everyone,

There’s an insane amount of noise about SoundCloud in the world right now. And it’s just that, noise. The music you love on SoundCloud isn’t going away, the music you shared or uploaded isn’t going away, because SoundCloud is not going away. Not in 50 days, not in 80 days or anytime in the foreseeable future. Your music is safe.

Along with each of you, we’ve built this incredible creative community of artists, podcasters, DJs, producers and more who are the driving force in pushing culture forward in the world. That’s not going to change. Last week we had to make some tough decisions to let go of some of our staff, but we did this to ensure SoundCloud remains a strong, independent company.

Thank you for the outpouring of love and support. Some of you have asked how you can help — spread the word that we’re not going anywhere and keep doing what you’re doing — creating, listening, uploading, sharing, liking, and discovering what’s new, now and next in music. SoundCloud is here to stay.

Peace,
Alex

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