EXBERLINER Issue 163, September 2017

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REGULARS Start-ups By Alison Bell Dark clouds After a stormy summer, Soundcloud’s future seems to be secure for now. But who knows what lies ahead for the music streaming site? By Alison Bell Well, it’s been a strange summer… grey skies, storms, flooding. And it’s been an equally turbulent time for Soundcloud. After laying off 40 percent of its staff and closing its London and San Francisco offices in July, the Berlin- and New York-based music streaming site has now been saved from the brink of going under, thanks to a new round of funding to the tune of around €143.6 million in mid-August. But whether this is enough to turn the tide of its fortunes remains to be seen. Soundcloud has long been the darling of Berlin’s start-up scene, often cited as proof that a start-up founded here can make it internationally. But despite the site’s popularity and its high-profile alumni – like Chance the Rapper and Lorde – it’s not had an easy ride. Launched in 2008 by Swedes Alex Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, Soundcloud challenged the then-dominance of Myspace as a place for undiscovered artists to share their music. In April 2009, it received €2.5 million in Series A funding, the first of various investments based on its massive potential market. But herein lies one of Soundcloud’s fundamental conundrums – how to serve its passionate community of users while also satisfying investors through audience growth and monetisation. In accepting so much funding, the platform may just have sealed its fate. In the meantime, Spotify (partly owned by music labels) has grown to the ubiquitous streaming behemoth it is today. After various copyright claims, Soundcloud was gradually able to negotiate deals with major labels, and in 2014 launched advertising on its streams to allow select artists and labels to collect royalties. In 2016 it launched Soundcloud Go, a subscription service for listeners, in an attempt to further gain revenue. But the company’s monetary headaches continued. Various talks of acquisition deals with Twitter, and indeed with Spotify, fell apart. In March this year it raised almost €60 million in debt funding, $150 million That’s the size of Samsung’s tech fund, NEXT, which opened its first European office near Hackescher Markt this summer. CC BY SA 4.0 RANJEET2792 but still rumours persisted that the service wouldn’t make it till the end of the year. In July these rumours looked to be true. A few days after Soundcloud’s 173 layoffs and two office closures were made public, a tiredlooking Alex Ljung gave an honest yet evasive interview at Berlin’s Tech Open Air festival, where he battled acquisition rumours: “We’re one of the largest music platforms in the world. Even just yesterday, we were in the top 20 of all the apps downloaded in the App Store. The platform is still growing. The number of tracks is still growing. So everything in terms of the business is doing well.” But of course not everything was doing well. Soundcloud turned over €21.1 million in revenue in 2015 – a 21.6 percent increase on 2014. But net losses increased by 30.9 percent to €51.2 million. With the redundancies and office closures achieving a total savings of €16.9 million, the gap between revenue and profitability remained obvious. According to Soundcloud’s figures (not updated in three years), the service has 175 million regular users – no number of paid subscribers has ever been given. “We’re taking more control of our own future, creating a path to profitability and ensuring our independence,” insisted Ljung in July. Meanwhile, though, reports described the company as a “shitshow” with inconsistent product direction and dwindling cash, and Ljung partying around the world like a rock star. Employees were “advised not to talk to the press”, according to one Berlin Soundcloud worker who refused to speak even under condition of anonymity. Now, however, the company has just been given another lifeline courtesy of New Yorkand Singapore-based investors – indeed, Soundcloud’s largest financing round to date. And while Ljung wrote a blog post triumphantly announcing the news, he himself has stepped down as CEO. He’ll be replaced by former Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor – perhaps a good pick given that he helped Vimeo fend off bigger rivals like Youtube. While Soundcloud lives to fight another day, there’s still plenty of work to be done to find a way to make its subscriptions more appealing and still keep both Soundcloud’s users and investors happy. It could still be a rough ride ahead. n 56 EXBERLINER 163
REGULARS APP TEST App to school Summer is over and soon Berlin’s streets will be flooded by children with enormous backpacks and even bigger candy-filled Schultüten. But the excitement doesn’t have to be limited to kids: Berlin has no shortage of e-resources for students of all backgrounds and ages. IVERSITY Founded in Berlin in 2011, Iversity is an online learning platform (no app version) offering higher education and professional development courses to over 750,000 registered users. It’s the first European site to offer socalled Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), interactive classes where anyone who wants to can participate, and one of only a few platforms that can award ECTS credit points (an EU grading system). Many of the courses on the site are free and available in multiple languages, and topics range from cultural studies from the European University Institute to “Clinical Management of HIV” from the European AIDS Clinical Society. I dipped my toe into a beginners’ Spanish course offered by the Universidad a Distancia de Madrid which included 23 videos across 20 chapters to help get a grasp of some basic Spanish phrases. After watching a short video, I was invited to take a quiz to test my learning. While it’s not got quite the same gamification appeal as an app like Babbel or Duolingo, the course was well structured and I found the videos helpful. I’ll be speaking like a pro in no time. Rating ★★★★ CAREERFOUNDRY If you’ve got hankerings to join Berlin’s start-up scene but no experience in tech, Berlin-based CareerFoundry could help you learn the skills you need. Since 2014, more than 27,000 people have taken courses on iOS development, UI and UX design and web development. I looked into the iOS course, written by developers with experience at Apple and Hewlett-Packard, which promised to help you build your first app. Limited to 25 spots, the online course can be completed at your own pace (based on 20 hours per week, SEPTEMBER 2017 it’d take six months). Like all of CareerFoundry’s courses, your lessons are supplemented both by an assigned tutor for real-time help and an industry professional mentor who reviews your work via video chat. I contemplated giving it a spin, but was put off by the price: €3500! At least the company promises a full refund if you’re one of the five percent of students who don’t find a job in six months. Rating ★★★ ARRIVING IN BERLIN Meanwhile, a new app has just been launched to help refugees and newcomers to Berlin find their way. Based on an online map developed by Haus der Kulturen der Welt and tech education project Refugees on Rails, Arriving in Berlin includes useful information on essentials such as German courses, advice and support centres, Arabic- and Farsi-speaking doctors and Middle Eastern supermarkets – basically everything you need to get your feet on the ground. Available on Android in six languages (Arabic, German, English, Farsi, French and Sorani), the map can be used offline and also hooks up to your phone’s GPS through Google Maps to help find the places closest to you. Not a refugee? You’ll still appreciate Arriving In Berlin shows you nearby libraries and language schools. Events the list of free wi-fi hotspots. Rating ★★★★ Long Night of Start-ups There’s the long night of the museums, the long night of culture, and now there’s this. One of Europe’s largest start-up events, this year’s edition on Sep 8 will enable some 250 startups from across the world to present themselves to corporates, investors and potential customers. Election Night at Factory Berlin If you’re looking to make a party out of the Sep 24 elections, Mitte’s start-up hub is hosting a special election night event. Not only can you watch the results live, digital experts will also be on hand for up-to-the-minute analysis. Roma Army BY YAEL RONEN & ENSEMBLE DIRECTOR YAEL RONEN PREMIERE 14/SEPTEMBER after us, outer space – the inner team never eases up BY SIBYLLE BERG DIRECTOR SEBASTIAN NÜBLING PREMIERE 24/SEPTEMBER ALL PLAYS WITH ENGLISH SURTITLES MAXIM GORKI THEATER Am Festungsgraben 2, 10117 Berlin Box Office: 0049 30/ 20 221 115 Tickets online: www.gorki.de
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Berlin in English since 2002 163
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CONTENTS Exberliner 163 -September
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Berlin in English since 2002 €3.9
Page 7 and 8: BEST OF BERLIN — September 2017 B
Page 9 and 10: ELECTION 2017 Find your own Alterna
Page 11 and 12: ELECTION 2017 Bergpartei Slow anarc
Page 13 and 14: Members: 240 pre- and postmillenial
Page 15 and 16: ELECTION 2017 “It just works diff
Page 17 and 18: ELECTION 2017 Left: An SPD voluntee
Page 19 and 20: ELECTION 2017 And, even if they’r
Page 21 and 22: ELECTION 2017 “Schiller and Goeth
Page 23 and 24: ELECTION 2017 contract I’m paying
Page 25 and 26: WHAT’S ON — International Liter
Page 27 and 28: WHAT’S ON — International Liter
Page 29 and 30: WHAT’S ON — Russian Cosmism Fou
Page 31 and 32: WHAT’S ON — Al Gore but I would
Page 33 and 34: WHAT’S ON — Film Reviews punch,
Page 35 and 36: Preview Hounds of Love WHAT’S ON
Page 37 and 38: WHAT’S ON — Music Album release
Page 39 and 40: wonderful experience of actually se
Page 41 and 42: WHAT’S ON — Art ing (6-10pm), a
Page 43 and 44: WHAT’S ON — Art tions with Jero
Page 45 and 46: WHAT’S ON — Stage Interview “
Page 47 and 48: 6 QUESTIONS You once said breakdanc
Page 49 and 50: WHAT’S ON Through Sep 17. Starts
Page 51 and 52: ADVERTORIAL — The Berlin Guide U-
Page 53 and 54: ADVERTISING — The Language School
Page 55 and 56: COLUMN— The Gay Berliner Married
Page 57: REGULARS François Poilâne The 24-
Page 61 and 62: COLUMN — Ask Hans-Torsten Bills,
Page 63: Campaign by n e w f r o n t e a r s
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EXBERLINER Issue 163, September 2017

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