SoundCloud has finally clinched a licensing deal with a major music label. The popular music streaming website has signed a deal with Warner Music Group which means that whenever one of the label’s songs is played on SoundCloud a royalty will be paid to WMG. The deal is not limited to this only. Even if a part of its song is used for a mashup that’s uploaded on the site, SoundCloud is going to pay a royalty for that too.
According to reports, Warner wasn’t too big on signing this deal with SoundCloud until it promised to roll out a subscription based offering. SoundCloud has already confirmed that a premium service is coming next year though it hasn’t revealed exactly what will be different from paying listeners.
One of the major reasons behind SoundCloud’s popularity is the fact that all of the music on it is available for free. Even though the premium service is coming out, it has been confirmed that the free offering will remain, so users really have nothing to worry about.
Deals like this will enable SoundCloud to make money for the music industry like other music streaming services do, but it is too soon to say at this point in time whether or not other major music labels are considering a similar deal. It is reported that as part of this deal Warner gets a stake in SoundCloud as well.
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