SoundCloud to begin rollout of advertising within streams

Well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Today, SoundCloud have announced plans to introduce a new programme called On SoundCloud, which will allow select artists to monetise tracks by placing advertisements within their streams. Of course, SoundCloud themselves stand to benefit from this, as not only will they likely take a percentage of the ad revenue, but also because creators have to pay a subscription in order to monetise their tracks.

The move comes as SoundCloud finds itself under increasing pressure to strike deals with the major labels that will see tougher measures taken against users who upload copyrighted material, and that will allow them to profit from the music that their artists offer, instead of them being available for free. Monetisation is only available to those who pay for the newest tier of plan, Premier.

The new programme will be slowly rolled out to a few select artists, and will only be available in the US initially. You can find the full email that was sent out to SoundCloud users today, below, and we'll look at the move in more detail next week.


Hey _____,

Big news to share today: I am proud to announce the launch of On SoundCloud, our new creator partner program. On SoundCloud lays the foundation for creators to make money from their work on the platform.

As artists ourselves, Eric and I started SoundCloud with a simple vision. We wanted to develop tools for creators, help them reach fans all over the world, and shape a way we could pay the creators who fuel the growth of SoundCloud.

We’re laying this foundation by initially inviting a small group of creators to become Premier partners in the On SoundCloud program, enabling them to make money on the platform. Over time we will roll this out across the creator community.

To make this possible, we’re introducing advertising from select brand partners to SoundCloud. When someone sees or hears an ad, they’re supporting an artist. We will include ads gradually and bring on more advertisers as we grow On SoundCloud.

Everybody at SoundCloud is really excited about bringing this creator program to you. We often hear people say, ‘I’m on SoundCloud’. Now we’re happy to be able to offer even more for the millions of creators who have made it the best place in the world to share and discover music & audio.

Alex Ljung
Founder and CEO of SoundCloud

SHARE

Alex Simpson

Writer, musician, and all-round top guy. I set up Excited Octopus. Currently, I'm on a one man team. It gets lonely sometimes. But I don't mind, because I love you all.

• 
• 
•