Spotify Ltdis in advanced discussions to take over Germany-basedmusic streaming rival SoundCloud, the FinancialTimes of London reported Sept. 28, citing people briefed on the talks.

Terms of the potential transaction were reportedly unclear,as the talks between the two companies could still fall apart.

The deal is expected to step up competition in the digitalmusic market, following AppleInc. and Amazon.comInc.'s launches of their respective music streaming .

SoundCloud earlier secured about $100 million via a funding round led byTwitter Inc., whichalso considered buying the music platform but later from takeover talks to buy theBerlin-based music service.

Meanwhile, Spotify is reportedly to go public in the second halfof 2017.