IT’S ALL GO FOR SOUNDCLOUD IN BLIGHTY
SoundCloud is now an officially licensed streaming service in the U.K. and Ireland after launching its subscription service overseas, one month after arriving in the U.S.
In tandem with Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and Tidal, the ad-free version of SoundCloud Go costs £9.99 per month after a 30-day trial. It’s content-heavy, with a catalog featuring 125m tracks from 12m artists (Spotify’s consists of 20m), which users can also enjoy for free if they don’t mind listening to a few adverts.
The launch comes shortly after securing a multi-territory licensing deal with Sony/ATV for Europe, which followed similar agreements with Warner, then Universal and Sony. Akin to Tidal, SoundCloud claims to be powered by the artists and rights holders, who can decide on which tier their music will appear.
The latest development is the final stage of plan that SoundCloud co-founder Alexander Ljung, who has described the platform as a purely promotional (as oppose to financial) tool in the past, says he has been embarking on since he founded the service in 2007 alongside business partner Eric Wahlforss.
