SoundCloud has confirmed that the company secured a line of credit with "alternative investment management firm" Tennenbaum Capital Partners early in 2015. While the company didn't give specifics on the size of the investment, Swedish news outlet Di Digital reports the figure at $32 million, with an option for another payment double that of the original.
In a statement the company says the deal was "an attractive option for companies like SoundCloud that have a solid credit rating, and offers an appropriate funding option for a company at our growth stage."
SoundCloud has had a tumultuous year, but recently struck an important deal with U.K. trade body PRS for Music, which sued the company over a failure to pay its members. SoundCloud founder and CEO Alexander Ljung said the agreement will "expand revenue opportunities, improve the accuracy of royalty distributions, and launch new services for our 175 million monthly active listeners."
"Over the last couple of years we’ve been really focused on generating revenue opportunities for the creative community," SoundCloud's svp of business development and strategy Stephen Bryant told Billboard. "This deal enables SoundCloud to continue to operate as a platform that really been built for creators at all stages of their career. Whether they are signed to a major label or an indie artist, this deal enables that creative community to continue to use the platform and make sure that creators and artists and songwriters are properly compensated."
It's been about a year-and-a-half since the company introduced On SoundCloud, its monetization scheme. Warner Music Group is the only major label to take the company up on the deal, which allows companies to make ad revenue against uploaded catalog.
For its part, Sony Music continues to remove any of its catalog that appears on the site, while Universal Music Group seems to be taking a wait-and-see approach to its negotiations with the platform.