SoundCloud unveils the creator partner program “On SoundCloud”

After months of speculation around the future of SoundCloud, the company’s co-founder Alexander Ljung has unveiled the company’s creator partner program, simply called “On SoundCloud.”

The program will allow creators to start making money on the platform and will initially be available only to a small group of users.

Ljung in an email to user stated: “…we’re introducing advertising from select brand partners to SoundCloud. When someone sees or hears an ad, they’re supporting an artist.”

Adverts will be introduced gradually, but this represents a significant new chapter for the company. SoundCloud had started to play around with advertising in March of 2013 but that initiative was either abandoned or reworked into this new offering.

The company’s website gives a few more details on what the Premier Partner level will involve. First of all it will provide access to the most comprehensive stats SoundCloud has ever offered and will allow users to geographically target tracks.

Second - as mentioned earlier - it enables users to monetise content, but at the moment it explicitly states this will only happen in the U.S. which given SoundCloud’s international base is an interesting restriction.

Third, Premier Partners will get access to an account manager who will help them optimise their presence on SoundCloud. This is likely to be a very resource-heavy task requiring a lot of support staff as the feature rolls out to more users.

Finally the company states that Premier Partners will have access to “exclusive opportunities” to promote their music.

There are a couple of important question marks on how this Premier Partner level will be implemented. First of all will this be a paid feature? And if so how many streams should creators expect to generate to make their money back?

Second, when it comes to the music side of things, has SoundCloud sorted out its licensing situation and will it start paying royalties at least to Performing Rights Organisations?

Indeed an exciting announcement from SoundCloud today, but as we don’t know any of the details around which brands are involved, what percentage of the advertising revenue the company will share with creators and what the situation is on the rights front for music there are still plenty of brushstrokes to hit the canvas before we can catch a glimpse of the complete picture.


(Andrea Leonelli)