SoundCloud Avoids Demise (For Now) With $170 Million Investment

While SoundCloud has spent the better part of 2017 with people thinking the service was on its last legs, the streaming service tried to assure users that they weren't going anywhere. And it doesn't look like Chance the Rapper was even needed.

According to Billboard, a reported $170 million cash infusion has saved SoundCloud from an early death. The Raine Group, which is a merchant bank, is said to have partnered with Temasek (an investment company out of Singapore) to help raise the $169.5 million needed to keep SoundCloud running independently. The investment deal, which is said to have been dubbed "Project Sonic," was reported on earlier this week, with other sources saying that SoundCloud would need to replace their CEO Alex Ljung as a part of the deal. As Billboard also reported, former Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor was named the new CEO of SoundCloud. The company also added Michael Weissman as its COO.

"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, who will remain at SoundCloud as chairman along with SoundCloud co-founder Eric Wahlforss, said. "We see a strong, independent future for the company."

Billboard says Trainor plans on using what he learned at Vimeo, which is a video platform that helped filmmakers monetize their works, to help him steer SoundCloud, specifically mentioning wanting to help musicians, DJs, and creators with new tools within the service. These tools, he hopes, would entice more creators to buy into SoundCloud's Unlimited service for uploaders.

As of right now, there's no word on what any of these changes up top will mean for the approximately 170 million people who use SoundCloud on a regular basis, nor do we know if or how the needs for the musicians and DJs who saw their music removed from the service for various reasons will be met under the new regime.