News - 29/03/2016

SoundCloud finally launches Go, its shiny new subscription service

SoundCloud finally launches Go, its shiny new subscription service

SoundCloud has not wasted any time: after wrapping up its major label deals the company has already announced the launch of the long-awaited subscription service Go. 

The service, which had been expected for close to two years and was held up by the above-mentioned deals, hopes to put enough of a twist on the traditional subscription platforms to make people pay attention. 

SoundCloud Go is available in the US only and costs the standard $9.99 per month after a 30-day free trial - $12.99 for those subscribing via iOS due to the usual “Apple tax”. It will be heavily discounted for 6 months (at $4.99) for those creators who are already subscribed to SoundCloud’s Active Pro Unlimited plan.  

SoundCloud go will offer access to a much broader catalogue of recordings than traditional streaming service, merging the catalogue of music made available by the 12 million creators who post on the platform and the “officially-licensed catalogue”. This makes it akin to YouTube, which contains user-generated content as well as officially-sanctioned videos.

The service will have an ad-supported component and a free component, enabling artists and labels to choose if and how much of a new album to make available for free or whether to put it all behind the paywall, something that Spotify has always refused to do, as it believes that degrading the free users’ experience is a sure way not to get them to upgrade. 

SoundCloud’s strength lies in its vast catalogue of recordings, remixes, mashups and podcasts, but the company still has far to go before it is able to offer a seamless, comprehensive experience to users in terms of recommendations. The company has updated its app to provide the added functionality required for the service to work such as a new radio feature and offline caching, but it still lacks basic functions such as a distinction between artists, albums and songs. 

This is the start of a new chapter for SoundCloud, and although the company is not gunning for Spotify on Day 1, aiming instead to start by converting its existing users to the paid tier, that is likely a long-term goal for the Berlin startup. However, to achieve it the company will have to iterate incredibly fast whilst widening its territorial footprint beyond the USA. 

 

(Andrea Leonelli) 

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