SoundCloud: A Case Study on a German StartupWhen Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss founded SoundCloud in 2007, their idea might not seem very unique. However, their desire to create a simple music sharing platform tapped into a huge opportunity in the growing array of social networking sites. By focusing on sharing music, these two young founders honed the untapped potential, which today has become a highly successful and ever-growing company. Similar to the stories of other startups that have focused on specific markets, SoundCloud has followed in the footsteps of Twitter, Facebook, flickr, and vimeo. Each specialized their website and therefore attracted specific groups of people seeking their services. SoundCloud is a great example of a startup that was able to meet the needs of a specific market and subsequently expand to include the general population. SoundCloud: Targeting Music Artists Founder Wahlforss describes how SoundCloud was founded to fill a fundamental need felt by himself, among others, “To make a long story relatively short, SoundCloud was born out of a need that both Alex and I (Ljung, ed.) we felt. … Alex was making film scores, and I had produced some electronic music and released an album. But we both felt there was a clear gap in the tools available: a gap in the market to get a piece of audio from point A to point B to any number of recipients. That was the embryonic idea, let's say. We've gone from that kind of niche market to a more generic audio infrastructure for the web.” (Weverbergh). At the core of the company was the idea that there was no easy way to share music and receive feedback. Pre-SoundCloud artists could upload music to...... middle of paper ...... so the subscription they sell is still based on the niche market they started with. Unlike Pandora or Spotify, free users can stream music without interrupted ads and can also upload a limited amount of music. Since 2007, SoundCloud has grown from a small German startup to a huge music-sharing website. By integrating music sharing with a social network-style platform, they have outclassed their competitors and continue to grow every day. The company continually expands the SoundCloud brand through its own mobile application, as well as integrating it with many other websites and mobile applications. SoundCloud depicts a company that has successfully capitalized on an unmet need and created a global brand. Only time will tell if they will be able to continually expand and meet the demands of music fans everywhere.