In Apple-Spotify World, SoundCloud Can’t Find Room - Bloomberg

Streaming music as a platform feature rather than a stand-alone product

"After years of trading physical dollars for digital dimes, the music industry is finally seeing a payoff. Subscriptions to streaming music services jumped about 50 percent in 2016, topping 92 million. For the first time since the heyday of CDs, revenue for the largest record labels is consistently rising. But things don’t look as bright for the streaming companies driving this revival.

Spotify, the biggest platform, has swallowed huge losses while paying about 70 percent of its revenue to record labels and publishers. It’s attempting to renegotiate those deals before a planned initial public offering this year. Pandora, which has consistently lost money throughout its 15 years, is trying its hand at a pricier subscription model based on technology from Rdio, another struggling service it bought in 2015. Streaming services Rhapsody and Deezer face similar problems, and internet radio company IHeartRadio is trying to stave off bankruptcy. Services from Apple, Amazon.com, and Google are used largely to lure people to the companies’ other businesses."

In Apple-Spotify World, SoundCloud Can’t Find Room - Bloomberg