After endless speculation SoundCloud has unveiled Go, a new subscription tier launching first in America. Go will give users access to some 125 million tracks including premium licensed content on demand, starting first in the U.S. at $9.99 per month (or $12.99 on the iOS app after Apple’s transaction fee). In addition to other SoundCloud created and posted by its worldwide legion of users, subscribers to the service will have ad-free access to tens of millions of on-demand premium tracks, along with offline listening.
“We suddenly have a music service that has the entire breadth of creativity. That’s never been done before,” said Alexander Ljung, SoundCloud’s co-founder and chief executive officer. He says his company’s free service will remain unchanged as it pivots to compete with Spotify and Apple Music. The company’s survival largely depends upon the success of go as SoundCloud lost $43 million in 2014. A 2% sign-up at $10 monthly would produce over $400 million yearly. A free 30-day trial will be available for those interested in giving the service a road test.
We’re launching SoundCloud Go in the US, 125m tracks, ad-free and offline. Subscribe for 9.99 / month. #SoundCloudGo #EverythingAnywhere
— Alexander Ljung (@alexanderljung) March 29, 2016