Troubles at Soundcloud have led to worries for musicians worldwide

Troubles at the Soundcloud streaming service have sent a wave of worry through the music world, writes Jenna Wortham

THIS summer, an engineer named Matthew Healy moved to Berlin to work at SoundCloud, a popular music-streaming service. He started his job on a Monday. On Thursday, a companywide meeting was called. Healy and his new co-workers assumed it was about the acquisition rumors swirling around the company.

Instead, Healy learned that he and 172 other employees — roughly 40% of the company’s staff — were being laid off. “The rest of the day is a blur,” he wrote in a post about his experience online. “I now realize that I was in shock.”