SoundCloud has had a rough go of its move toward monetization, but it’s still the most important and influential service on the planet for unsigned or under-the-radar musicians. Last month, in a Swedish TV interview, Spotify founder/CEO Daniel Ek shared some of his own thoughts on the dilemma faced by SoundCloud at the moment. Quoth Ek:

The only thing that’s missing on Soundcloud is the ability to make money from your songs. That has never been Soundcloud’s strength. It is however Spotify’s.

Quite a coincidence! If only there were some way to combine the two … Hey, crazy idea here: SoundCloud’s owners have reportedly been looking to sell the service, and Spotify needs to diversify a bit, so … are you thinking what I’m thinking?

Looks like Spotify and SoundCloud are thinking it! According to the Financial Times, Spotify “is in advanced talks to acquire SoundCloud.”

The asking price for SoundCloud way back in July was in the range of $1 billion, and it probably hasn’t dropped much since then. Still, you ask, where is Spotify — a company that lost $200 million in 2015 — getting $1 billion to spend on a service that is reportedly “hemorrhaging money”? I dunno. Maybe they have a billion in convertible debt laying around or something. FWIW, I actually think it’s a good investment for Spotify for a whole bunch of reasons, but I’ll save my thoughts on that for another time. I mean, if it’s happening at all, of course. These “talks” have a way of disintegrating before the contracts are signed. Don’t believe me? Just ask Jay.