• by Gavin O'Malley  @mp_gavin, September 28, 2016

In what is likely an effort to gain an edge on Apple Music, Spotify is reportedly nearing an acquisition of SoundCloud.

Neither party has yet to comment on the deal talks, which were first reported by the Financial Times.

Spotify just surpassed 40 million paid subscribers -- more than double the 17 million subscribers that Apple Music currently claims. SoundCloud, however, is not doing very well. Although the favorite audio social network of many independent producers and DJs, the Berlin-based company reportedly doubled its losses from 2013 to 2014.

Of course, a SoundCloud acquisition would not be Spotify’s first attempt to build out its service with fresh features.

Stepping up its mobile and social game, Spotify bought Cord Project and Soundwave at the beginning of the year. Soundwave specialized in music discovery products and technology, while Cord Project made audio products for connected devices.

More broadly, streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music are breathing new life into the music industry. In fact, after years of decline, these mobile-streaming services are helping music sales achieve something of a recovery.

Through the first half of the year, retail spending on recorded music rose by 8.1% to $3.4 billion, according to recent findings from The Recording Industry Association of America. At wholesale, value increased 5.7% to $2.4 billion.

“Streaming in all its forms accounted for almost half of all recorded music revenues in the first half of 2016,” Cary Sherman, Chairman and CEO of the RIAA, noted in a recent blog post. “This represents a remarkable transformation and reinvention by a business that was principally physical products just six years ago.”

Over the first half of the year, there were an average of more than 18 million music subscriptions -- doubling the 9 million reported at the same time last year.