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SoundCloud Go is the latest music streaming service to take on Spotify

By Koh Wanzi - on 1 Apr 2016, 11:08am

SoundCloud Go is the latest music streaming service to take on Spotify

Image Source: Digital Music News

SoundCloud is best known for providing amateur musicians, DJs, and other sound hobbyists with a platform to air their tunes. However, the company has been working on launching a music streaming service since late 2014, and has since concluded a series of licensing deals with both indie and major record labels, including Sony Music, Warner Music Group, and Universal Music Group.

All these efforts have finally culminated in the US launch of SoundCloud Go, a subscription-based music streaming service that will cost listeners US$9.99/month after a 30-day trial. SoundCloud is moving beyond emerging artists, remixes, and podcasts – now, it hopes to be the go-to platform for whenever you want music.

SoundCloud already has 175 million monthly listeners, but it remains to be seen how many of these will sign up for a paid subscription. SoundCloud previously relied on paid creator accounts for revenue, and if Go proves successful, the company could open up a fairly lucrative revenue stream.

However, the service may already have run into some early teething problems. Initial reports are saying that the app is difficult to use and has some gaping holes in its music library. Notable exclusions include artists like Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, and Rihanna, for whom only a handful of remixes are available, if at all.

SoundCloud’s library reportedly holds 125 million songs (which sounds a lot compared to the over 30 million on Spotify and Apple Music), but 110 million of these are actually remixes and user-uploaded tracks that already live on the service. This means that SoundCloud Go has just 15 million tracks, less than half of what Apple Music, Spotify, Tidal and other rivals offer.

SoundCloud Go has simply been added on top of the existing SoundCloud app.

In addition, SoundCloud Go is not a separate app, but has been added on top of its current mobile apps and website. This has the benefit of providing a familiar interface to existing users, but it also results in official artist tracks being mixed in with some free, user-uploaded tracks. Engadget reports that there is no way to tell which song is which, unless you have some knowledge of the musician to begin with. That could be a big problem, especially if SoundCloud wants to appeal to users just looking for a straightforward service.

Still, there is reason for optimism. The company says it is adding more tracks every day as it takes time to get the huge catalog online, which might help fill in some gaps in its library.

SoundCloud Go is limited to Android and iOS users (who will actually have to pay US$12.99/month) in the US for now, but there are plans to expand to other countries later in the year.

Source: SoundCloud (PR Newswire)

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