SoundCloud could be launching a new paid subscription service as early as this fall, according to a new piece by Digital Music News. The media outlet cites unnamed “sources” close to the company for its report, introducing its article with, “SoundCloud is about to become a totally different musical destination, with a subscription service happening by October of this year.” Continuing, DMN writes:
At the present time, everything on SoundCloud is free, though the wheels are already turning on a paid transformation. Just this morning, the company officially announced the hiring of Alison Moore from NBC Universal, effective immediately, with subscription-based rollout a top priority. As Chief Revenue Officer, Moore will apply previous learnings from NBC, where she was involved in the rollout of ‘TV Everywhere,’ as well as a previous stint at HBO. Both companies have been struggling to bring their massive, mainstay content businesses into the digital era, with mixed results getting users to pay.
As DMN notes, they first reported on SoundCloud’s new “paid service” program at the beginning of this year. Back then, the streaming giant was rumored to be pushing for a plan of action concerning a paid subscription service by July of this year. That strategy is now deemed “overly aggressive” by DMN’s sources, despite internal desire within SoundCloud’s offices to still work something out by summer. At present time, Sony also remains the only major label without an agreed-upon deal with SoundCloud. This news comes just a month after SoundCloud launched its latest new service, Stations.