After teasing its arrival for ages, streaming giant SoundCloud has officially launched its subscription service called SoundCloud Go.
While currently only available in the U.S., the launch of SoundCloud Go comes after much planning, with the current monthly cost running at $9.99 US for Android and PC users, and $12.99 for iOS devices. It also begins with a 30-day free trial.
The new service promises an expanded music library, including the catalogues of major labels Warner, Universal and Sony, as well as 20,000 independent labels and all the songs already offered on SoundCloud's free tier. As a whole, it promises to give users 125 million tracks, all of which will be fully licensed. This is roughly 100 million more than was Spotify is said to offer.
SoundCloud Go will also allow subscribers to store and listen to the catalogue offline on their devices, and it will be ad-free.
As for SoundCloud's free tier, users will still see ads and only get a very small percentage of the new premium content. But essentially, the service will apparently work very much like it has in the past.
In a statement, SoundCloud founder and CEO Alexander Ljung said, "SoundCloud Go represents our vision of the future of music streaming: a platform for creators to collaborate on; for fans to discover the latest tracks, enjoy legendary music and connect with their favorite artists; and for our unique creative community to have the opportunity to be paid for their work."
While SoundCloud Go is currently operating as a U.S.-only service, it's expected to launch in other countries later this year.
While currently only available in the U.S., the launch of SoundCloud Go comes after much planning, with the current monthly cost running at $9.99 US for Android and PC users, and $12.99 for iOS devices. It also begins with a 30-day free trial.
The new service promises an expanded music library, including the catalogues of major labels Warner, Universal and Sony, as well as 20,000 independent labels and all the songs already offered on SoundCloud's free tier. As a whole, it promises to give users 125 million tracks, all of which will be fully licensed. This is roughly 100 million more than was Spotify is said to offer.
SoundCloud Go will also allow subscribers to store and listen to the catalogue offline on their devices, and it will be ad-free.
As for SoundCloud's free tier, users will still see ads and only get a very small percentage of the new premium content. But essentially, the service will apparently work very much like it has in the past.
In a statement, SoundCloud founder and CEO Alexander Ljung said, "SoundCloud Go represents our vision of the future of music streaming: a platform for creators to collaborate on; for fans to discover the latest tracks, enjoy legendary music and connect with their favorite artists; and for our unique creative community to have the opportunity to be paid for their work."
While SoundCloud Go is currently operating as a U.S.-only service, it's expected to launch in other countries later this year.
