SoundCloud appoints Eliah Seton as CEO

Seton succeeds Michael Weissman who joined SoundCloud in 2017 and served as CEO from 2021. The company said Weissman is departing for a new opportunity.

Seton joined SoundCloud in 2021 as president, overseeing the creator and roster operating divisions as well as strategy, mergers and acquisitions, content partnerships, business development, and distribution and artist partnerships. In that role, he was instrumental in refocusing the business on deepening the relationship between its artists and fans through new economic models, products and tools.

The company also announced that Fred Wilson, founder of Union Square Ventures and member of SoundCloud’s board since 2011, has been appointed as the new chairman of the board. Wilson succeeds SoundCloud founder Alexander Ljung who served as CEO from 2007-2017 and chairman from 2017-2022.

Ljung, whose decision to step back as chairman was motivated by a desire to spend more time on new projects, will assume a new role as chairman emeritus of the SoundCloud board, continue to serve as a board member and will also remain closely engaged and available to the company’s management team and employees going forward.

“I have served on SoundCloud’s board for more than a decade and can honestly say that I have never been more excited about the direction and leadership of the company,” Wilson said. “Eliah [Seton’s] passion for the business of music, relationships and vision are exactly what is needed for the next phase of SoundCloud’s growth, said Wilson. “On behalf of the board, I want to thank Mike [Weissman] for his leadership, dedication and partnership over the past several years and welcome Eliah to this new role.”

Seton said as the only platform with direct relationships with artists and fans at scale, SoundCloud has a singular opportunity to forge the future of the music industry by unlocking the full power of fandom. “I am grateful to Mike for our partnership, to Fred [Wilson] and the board for their confidence and thrilled to work alongside our incredible leadership team to realise that vision,” he said.

The leadership and board changes come on the heels of a momentous year for SoundCloud, during which Seton oversaw the launch of fan-powered royalties (FPR) and the first-ever major label licence on FPR with Warner Music Group, the acquisition of AI machine-learning music tech company Musiio, an artist development joint venture with Quality Control’s Solid Foundation and the launch of SoundCloud for Artists, among other highlights.

Prior to joining SoundCloud, Seton was president of Independent Music and Creator Services for Warner Music Group (WMG). He also served as senior vice president, strategy and operations for International at Warner Music Group and built and ran WMG’s Office of the CEO.

Founded in 2007, SoundCloud is an artist-first platform empowering artists to build and grow their careers by providing them with the most progressive tools, services, and resources. It boasts over 320 million tracks from 40 million artists.