Sony/ATV Signs Multi-Territory Deal With SoundCloud

by Charlotte Hassan

Get ready for SoundCloud Go in Europe.

Sony/ATV, the world’s leading music publisher, and SoundCloud, one of the world’s largest music platform, have announced a multi-territory agreement for Europe.

Soundcloud has already inked a deal with Sony/ATV in the US, but has now expanded this partnership to Europe.  And that will be critical for Soundcloud Go, the monthly subscription service launched in the US on March 29th, but still does not exist across Europe.  However, now that this new deal in place it is highly anticipated that Soundcloud will introduce both subscriptions and advertising across Europe in 2016.

Martin Bandier, Sony/ATV Chairman and CEO, offered this statement on the deal today:

“These deals for the US and Europe create the best opportunity for Sony/ATV and its songwriters to maximize the creative and revenue benefits of SoundCloud’s multi-territory business.  We are particularly excited about the launch of the paid-for subscription service, which will provide the best business framework for our roster and allow Sony/ATV to take advantage of SoundCloud’s significant user base.”

Alexander Ljung, SoundCloud Founder and CEO, echoed the enthusiasm:

“Our agreements with major partners are a significant part of achieving our ambition of allowing all forms of creative expression to live on our platform, while simultaneously ensuring rightsholders’ work is rewarded and respected.  As such, we’re delighted to reaffirm our relationship with Sony/ATV.”

After SoundCloud bagged deals with all three of the major labels, it is was expected that the platform would branch out into paid subscriptions.  But there’s still no news on when this will launch across the Atlantic, but it SoundCloud is loosely projecting a bow by the end of the year.

Any subscribers yet…?

But will anyone come to this party if they have to pay?  SoundCloud has been totally free for so long, questions remain over whether SoundCloud has selectively bred a premium-resistant crowd.  Perhaps adding to those questions is the lack of early data on how many people are now paying for Go.

And there’s plenty of paid competition on the paid side: Spotify has a massive 30 million paying subscribers, Apple has 11 million and Tidal has 3 million.  Even YouTube, a longtime giant of free access, is moving into premium with ‘Red’.