Tech

SoundCloud adds music streaming game to its offering

Published

8 years ago

March 30, 2016

SoundCloud adds music streaming game to its offering

Soundcloud is set to add music streaming gaming to its offering. It is often billed as the “YouTube for audio” because of its huge trove of user-generated music and spoken-word tracks, uploaded by some 12 million creators and now listened to by some 175 million monthly users globally.

But today the Berlin-based startup is (finally) taking the wraps off a new subscription service that could turn that concept on its head — and put it head-to-head in competition with the likes of on-demand streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer.

Read also: Google may ditch Goggles app

SoundCloud Go, a new subscription tier launching first in the U.S., will give users access to some 125 million tracks including premium licensed content on demand, starting first in the U.S. at $9.99 per month (or $12.99 on the iOS app after Apple’s transaction fee).

On top of the existing SoundCloud UGC trove, users get tens of millions of on-demand premium tracks, along with offline listening, and no ads.

Those who choose to stay on SoundCloud’s free tier will still see ads, and will get a very reduced number of new premium content tracks alongside the UGC, Alexander Ljung, SoundCloud’s co-founder and CEO, told me in an interview.

For example, an artist keen on promoting a single track from a new album might choose to put that track into the free tier, he explained.

“SoundCloud as people know it today with the free service and artists’ presence is all the same, nothing changes,” he said. “SoundCloud Go is an extension beyond that.

Those who choose it get the expanded catalog.” He added, though, that offline listening has been the company’s most-requested feature, so the hope is that this will potentially sweeten the deal anyway.

Since it was founded in 2007 by Swedish musicians Alexander Ljung and Eric Walforss, SoundCloud has become enormously popular with artists, DJs and music fans for its simple interface, its social functionality and the ease and speed with which it delivers music to its 175 million users.

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