After numerous rumors, and even leaked emails that had lead people to think SoundCloud will introduce a subscription service, has officially been confirmed.
Co-founder Eric Wahlforss had recently revealed SoundCloud will begin a subscription service for normal users later this year, and although it is expect to be towards the end of 2015, there has not been any confirmed dates when the service will drop. A statement below from Mixmag elaborates on the service:
According to the leak, SoundCloud’s new subscription service will consist of two tiers. On the first, subscribers will get an ad-free experience, with the ability to listen to audio and download a set amount of music. The second tier has the working title of ‘SoundCloud Full Catalog Subscription Service’, and would give subscribers unlimited access to its music.
Now, what this means is not really well known, and a “Full Catalog” can sound worrying. Will this mean that those who aren’t subscribed won’t be able to listen to music released by certain people? Along with that, what does this mean for SoundCloud Pro/Unlimited/Premiere users? Will they have to pay extra for this catalog? Many questions have gone unanswered about this, and this is what may set off many people, and even push people away from the platform, and onto more user friendly ones, like YouTube.
Recently, SoundCloud has been under pressure by numerous record labels, some of which are threatening to sue the company, which would only mean it’s demise. SoundCloud, contrary to what you would expect, is not making any money right now. In fact, quite the opposite, as they are loosing large amounts of money to both legal costs and site running.
SoundCloud is not looking all too great right now, with a large and worrying possibility that the entire service could go under. The worst part is that there are almost no competitors to SoundCloud, and if they were to go down, SoundCloud would take whole communities with it.
