We Transfer gives laid off Soundcloud employees $10,000 each to stop job hunting

Several weeks ago, Soundcloud axed hundreds of staff in the face of financial difficulties that could potentially see the closure of the streaming service by the end of Q4. 

In the wake of these redundancies the internet banded together to create the 'Hire a Soundclouder' Google doc citing every employee's contact details, work experience and particular skills, in aid of helping them to find new work. 

Yesterday, Damian Bradfield, President of We Transfer went a step further. In an open letter, the We Transfer boss revealed he had emailed each of the former workers $10,000 if they stopped looking for new jobs.

The sum is " not as a loan or an investment but a gift," Bradfield writes, asking that they put the money towards creating the music industry's next big thing. "What we would like to see is a proposal for something you could design, build or manage that could be the new mail-order record club, SoundCloud or iTunes."

Bradfield says these ex-SoundClouders have a special set of skills in the cross section of music, tech, and innovation, and it would be “sacrilegious to just let them go out and get regular jobs” instead of encouraging them to further innovate.

WeTransfer has since posted a document on their website outlining the $10,000 offer for former SoundCloud employees.  You can check it out here.  You can also read the open letter here.