soundcloud patrick moxey deal

A live performance from Helix Records-signed Netsky. Photo Credit: James Starkey

Five months after partnering with Sony Music on an artist-accelerator program, SoundCloud has unveiled a talent-discovery deal with Patrick Moxey’s label group.

Berlin-based SoundCloud, which is pushing to achieve profitability, today announced the newer of the pacts, inked specifically with EDM-centered Helix Records and hip-hop-focused Payday Records.

The latter is said to have served as the career launchpad behind high-profile acts including Jay-Z, with a current roster including AntsLive and Lagos-born Deto Black. Helix, for its part, is according to execs “a multi-territory independent home for the world’s best new electronic dance music.”

Both established by Ultra Records founder Patrick Moxey – Payday back in 1992, Helix last year – the labels are now expected to coordinate with the streaming platform “to discover, nurture, and invest in emerging electronic and hip-hop music artists,” the involved entities signaled.

(Moxey in March of 2022 detailed a “global strategic alliance,” extending to Helix as well as Payday, with Warner Music, which was an early adopter of SoundCloud’s “fan-powered” royalties model. Warner’s ADA handles the label group’s distribution, and the deal further encompasses “the option for the parties to co-sign new repertoire.”)

“SoundCloud will identify and refer promising artists on platform for potential signing with Helix or PayDay Records,” the businesses spelled out of the just-disclosed tie-up.

Meanwhile, SoundCloud CEO Eliah Seton in a statement indicated that the A&R union, notwithstanding the substantial layoffs his company’s announced on the year, underscores a continued objective of identifying “what’s next in music.”

“Hip-Hop and Electronic music are core to SoundCloud’s identity, and in Patrick Moxey, there is no better partner with whom to give artists the opportunity to build their careers,” communicated the Warner Music vet Seton.

“I’ve known Patrick for years – as we all know, he’s paved the way for some of the biggest names in the industry, and this partnership exemplifies our commitment to identifying and nurturing what’s next in music,” he concluded.

Beyond today’s agreement and the initially mentioned artist-accelerator pact with Sony Music, SoundCloud has leaned into several other talent-discovery deals in recent years. Towards the beginning of 2022, for instance, the service partnered with Solid Foundation Management, a subsidiary of Quality Control. (Subsequently, BTS agency Hybe in February of 2023 scooped up Quality Control.)

And to close out 2022, SoundCloud debuted a label with Atlanta-based, Kei Henderson-founded Third & Hayden, naming Jordan Hawkins and Key! as the JV’s first signings.