SoundCloud Agrees To Deal With Universal Music Group And Will Be Launching Paid Subscription Service

SoundCloud will finally be debuting a paid subscription service after securing a deal with Universal Music Group, the music industry’s largest label. The announcment comes after SoundCloud struck deals with 20,000 independent labels in addition to Merlin, the National Music Publisher’s Association, and Warner Music Group.

According to Stereogum, the website has been looking to monetize for quite awhile now, and the deal with UMG will allow them to stream major artists such as Kanye West, U2 and The Weeknd. The new deal also means we will likely be hearing more ads on SoundCloud depending on the terms with each label.

SoundCloud’s deal with UMG should come as no surprise as many major artists have embraced the service as a platform for releasing new music. Miley Cyrus even released her most recent album on SoundCloud first.

As reported by The New York Times, the website’s new subscription service is expected to debut later in 2016, though no firm date has been announced. SoundCloud already has over 175 million users according to the Verge, and we can expect that number to grow as its streaming library increases.