In the run up to the The Europas on January the 22nd we’re examining past winners and asking, where they are now? In this first edition we look back at Spotify and Soundcloud following their 2010 success.
The European Startup Awards are now in their fourth year. Started by TechCrunch’s Mike Butcher to award pioneering tech startups, winners are chosen by a carefully selected panel of industry professionals and the public for awards such as the “People’s Choice”. This year the Europas hit German soil for the first time with the awards ceremony taking place in Berlin. This sees a handover of direction from Tech Crunch to the Web Summit team.
Take a look at the previous winners of the Europas and you may well see a few familiar faces. Let’s begin with 2010. This was the year social media and music merged in a flurry of online audio platform winners.
SOUNDCLOUD – SKY HIGH AMBITION
First up we have Soundcloud, winner of best Music Startup in 2010.
The Europas judges for the year included Lea Bajc of North Zone and Sean Seton-Rogers from Profounders Capital. They commented – ‘‘A platform which has been described as the Twitter of Facebook for Music, Soundcloud has scaled in Europe and is now assaulting the US market.’
After their success in the 2010 Europas, Soundcloud saw their funding soar from $2.5 Million in 2011 to $50 Million in 2012; that’s 20 times more in the space of just one year. The company currently reaches 180 million people online every month and the group’s CEO and founder Alexander Ljung has reason to celebrate; the number of users is at a record high and approximately 80,000 people sign up to the platform everyday.
On December 4th Soundcloud launched Next Soundcloud, a complete restructure of the original website. They reported a 30% increase in user engagement since and tapped into the expanding mobile market with an updated search facility and UX updates for both iOS and Android users.
The website rework attracted criticism from some of their more committed fans, as can be expected. They received over 60,000 comments in response to their official post and one Soundcloud user, Pete Owen, posted an audio critique claiming the site were “doing a Zuckerberg”, which received over 14,000 listens and counting.
Soundcloud have taken his words into account and have said they are working on improving the service. If they continue to maintain a balance between satisfying both users and artists on the site, as they appear to have done here, the future looks just as bright for the best Europas Music Startup of 2010. With an evidently vocal following, it won’t necessarily be an easy path to tread.
SPOTIFY – HITTING ALL THE RIGHT NOTES
2010’s year of sound continued with Spotify picking up Best European Web Application or Service 2010.
The Europas Judges predicted even bigger things for the company :
“One of the most original startups in the world today, Spotify continues to attract debate. But one thing is clear – its users are hugely passionate about the service and it has the potential to completely change the music industry. Its European status is also assured, but it’s not stopping here on its path to attempt global domination. Definitely one to watch”.
Spotify has almost tripled Soundcloud’s venture capital funding with a total of $188 million, proving the Europas judges absolutely right. The company already had considerable investment prior to the awards with $21.6M in financial support in 2009, this then jumped to $100m in 2011 showing considerable growth following their receipt of the Europas award.
Spotify is set to follow in Soundcloud’s steps with a further move to facilitate the sharing of songs, taking inspiration from social media sites in their approach. In December it announced the addition of a Follow tab that incorporates Facebook friends and a Discover Page to use listening habits to make recommendations for listeners based on this. With continued worldwide growth and Poland as its next target market, the expansion of Spotify looks set to continue in an equally promising manner.
Keep an eye out for this year’s best Music Startup at the Europas for an indication of future sound trends set to flourish in 2013.