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SoundCloud : The Success Story of YouTube of Music

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Today, there are several audio streaming services, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Unlimited, etc., available online, but there was a time when there was no such platform, where people could access audio music online. But then, in 2007, two students from Stockholm School of Economics, Alex Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, influenced with the success of YouTube and Flickr, realized the need for a music sharing website, where artists could connect, and founded SoundCloud.

The Founders

Alex Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, both belong to the Swedish descent and were always interested in music. Since his childhood, Ljung was interested in both music and technology and had decided to become a sound engineer in future. By the time, he had become quite skilled in the music creation and produced an album and was able to secure a job at a post-production studio, after completing his school education. But again, he was more concerned about his studies, so he joined the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm.

ljung and wahlforss
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On the other hand, Wahlfros was also another alumni at the same institution pursuing a degree in MA. The two met at the college UNIX lab and found many things in common with each other, especially the passion for music. The two started spending more time together and did many university projects together.

Founding SoundCloud

At the time, Flickr was doing exceptionally well, and YouTube was emerging as a powerful video hosting platform. As the two were into music creation themselves, they thought of a new startup, through which they could make other music artists to share their music with other people and collaborate with different global artists, online.

After digging deep and working hard for a long time, the two launched SoundCloud, in 2007, keeping music and sound as its core objective. They founded SoundCloud in Stockholm, Sweden, but eventually established the headquarter of the company in Berlin in the same year.

In 2008, they launched the website for SoundCloud, where artists could share their creation and look for collaborations. But soon, the popularity of SoundCloud turned the platform into a music distribution platform.

The concept was unique, so it became popular in no time. In fact, in just two years, SoundCloud received worth €2.5 million investment from Doughty Hanson Technology Ventures, in the Series A funding. In 2010, the company reported one million registered users for the service. In 2011, in the Series B funding, SoundCloud raised a worth of US$10 million. In the same year, the company got raised to 10 million registered users, and in the next year, the number went to increase up to 15 million users.

Although since 2014, the company has been incapable of handling the huge empire it has built in a few years, SoundCloud is still working hard to maintain its spot in the music distribution industry. Even there has been the rise of several other new music platforms, it is SoundCloud that took the first step in providing the new artists to share their work on an online platform, and eventually, gave birth to new music distribution system.

SoundCloud has been the biggest medium for many artists to showcase their talent, and artists like Iza Lach from Poland and Lorde from New Zealand got their first break, through SoundCloud, and today are one of the most in-demand singers.

Alex Ljung served as the CEO of SoundCloud for almost a decade and stepped down from his position in 2017. Wahlforss holds the position of CPO in the company. He has also produced a few tracks that are available on SoundCloud itself.

SoundCloud is Now Offering Student Discounts at $4.99/Month for its Go+ Streaming Service

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After numerous requests from the student subscribers over many past years, finally, SoundCloud has launched an affordable subscription plan for them, giving them a 50 per cent discount on its premium SoundCloud Go+ streaming service reducing the price from $9.99 down to $4.99 a month.

soundcloud-go
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SoundCloud is the famous online music streaming service providers, currently, operating in 190 countries. But the premium service from SoundCloud is only available in nine countries including the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

The company was getting requests from the students, the subscribers of the SoundCloud premium plan, to reduce its prices for them, and for that matter, in 2017, SoundCloud had also launched a limited SoundCloud Go plan for $4.99. But the plan was not that impressive and could not please its users, as they were given access to a limited edition of songs under the plan.

SoundCloud hosts over 200 million tracks including the tracks from the tie-in and rising artists, which is also a reason behind the popularity of this platform. So not having the access to the wide SoundCloud collection even at $4.99 was a turn off for its student subscribers.

But now, with the new plan, the students belonging to a certified college or university will have access to the huge high-quality SoundCloud audio collection on half the prices. The students who are already registered with the SoundCloud Go+ can switch to the new plan through the SoundCloud website.

SoundCloud might be a bit late to provide the affordable subscription plans to its student subscribers, as other audio streaming providers including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and Amazon Unlimited, have already introduced many pocket-friendly plans to its users. But the loyal users of SoundCloud will stick to the service with the new plan. In the same regard, amid the tough competition, the company may also win new users.

For now, the service is only available in the US, Canada, UK, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand. And, in the coming week, it will be introduced to the users in Germany, France, and the Netherlands.

SoundCloud will now Assist Creators to Self-distribute Music Through its New Distribution Tool

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SoundCloud, the online audio distribution platform and music sharing website, has announced that it is going to add a distribution tool to its self-monetization Premier program. That means, now the eligible users will be able to upload, monetize and publish their songs over all the major streaming services and web stores, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Beatport, Instagram and more, through SoundCloud.

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Although other distribution platforms keep a slice from the profits earned through the uploaded content by the artists, SoundCloud has promised that the artists will be able to keep 100 per cent of the royalties, and also, all the rights over their content will be reserved by them only. Also, all the payouts earned through the various platforms will be sent to the artists directly through the app.

“Creators using the SoundCloud Premier distribution feature keep 100% of their rights, keep 100% of their distribution royalties from third-party services, and pay no distribution fees,” said SoundCloud in the announcement.

According to the announcement, all the ‘eligible’ SoundCloud Premier users will be able to access the new feature to upload their original content on the platform. According to the eligibility criteria, the creators must be 18 or above. Also, they must have at least 1,000 monetizable track plays, and all the tracks from the creator must be original, having no copyright strike on any of the content in the past.

The feature is still in beta, and soon, will be available to the SoundCloud Pro and SoundCloud Pro Unlimited users. Currently, the subscription fee for Pro users is $6, and for Pro Unlimited it is $12. With the addition of the distribution feature, the fee may be increased to an extent, as with no claim over the royalty and the copyrights, SoundCloud still have to make some money. According to the announcement, the ones with the eligible account will be informed through an email in the coming few weeks.

According to the CEO of SoundCloud, Kerry Trainor, the addition of the new feature will help the SoundCloud become more user-friendly and will be a great step in the evolution of the music industry. SoundCloud has already supported many of the artists in their success, and those artists, including Juice WRLD, are often heard giving the credits of their success to the app.