SoundCloud Accepts $170 Million Rescue, Taps New CEO to Replace Alex Ljung
Kerry Trainor, formerly of Vimeo, will lead the beleaguered service. Founder and outgoing CEO Alex Ljung predicts a “strong, independent future for the company.”
The SoundCloud death watch has ended.
The struggling digital music service today secured a fresh round of funding that assures SoundCloud will remain independent, even as a new executive team takes over to steer the service into the future.
The Raine Group, a boutique merchant bank, joined with the Singapore-based investment company Temasek, in leading a $169.5 million investment round that infuses SoundCloud with much-needed cash.
Former Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor succeeds founder Alex Ljung as chief executive, and Michael Weissman, another former executive at the video platform, was named SoundCloud’s chief operating officer.
“All of this together — the capital, the capital partners — with Kerry and Mike joining our team — it puts our company in a really great position to stay strong and remain independent,” Ljung said in an interview with Billboard. “We see a strong, independent future for the company.”
Zed Bias announces new album for Exit Records, Different Response
The album, which features collaborations with DRS and Zoë Violet, is out in September.
Zed Bias’s next album, Different Response, will come through Exit Records.
The LP follows the Driftin EP, which was the UK producer’s debut on dBridge’s label Exit Records. Like that record, Different Response features the vocalist Zoë Violet, along with other guest spots from Harleigh Blue, Bahia, Nasrawi and drum & bass MC DRS. The label calls Different Response “modern UK soul delivered in the 160 BPM format.” It’s his first LP since 2013’s Boss, which came out on Swamp 81.