In a bid to stamp its authority as the king of music streaming, SoundCloud recently introduced a new service in the United States known as SoundCloud Go. Go is a subscription music streaming service where users pay a monthly fee to access songs and tracks from popular artists in an ad-free environment. SoundCloud offers a library of over 125-million songs, some of which can only be found on SoundCloud. By introducing Go, SoundCloud will directly compete against other music streaming giants like Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and Tidal.

What does Go mean for listeners?

For listeners, Go offers an expanded catalogue. SoundCloud signed licensing agreements with companies like Sony, Warner Music, Merlin and UMG. These agreements allow SoundCloud to offer a ton of additional tracks that were not previously in their library, including massive hits and a slew of new tracks and albums from some of the biggest names in the music industry. In addition to these, users will still have access to the tracks that were previously available on SoundCloud for free. With this catalogue of music in excess of 125-million tracks, users will be able to find whatever they are looking for.

One of the things users disliked about SoundCloud was the lack of offline sync. The fact that you cannot listen to your favorite music without an internet connection does not sit well with most SoundCloud users. However, it seems the SoundCloud team has been thinking hard about this, and with Go, they have come up with the  solution. With SoundCloud Go, users are now able to make their liked music and playlists available for offline listening, regardless of where they are or the availability of an internet connection. By simply liking a song or creating a playlist on Go, the song or playlist automatically saves to your device, allowing you to listen to it offline, whenever and wherever you want.

Another thing users disliked about SoundCloud are the ads. Since SoundCloud is a free service, it depends on revenue from advertisements to earn money for artists and themselves as well. When listening to music, the only thing more annoying than the display ads are the audio ads that play in between tracks. With SoundCloud Go, you can do exactly that. Go allows you to listen to your favorite music in an ad-free environment.

What does Go mean for music creators?

SoundCloud Go offers music creators more visibility for your music in a more diverse content ecosystem. SoundCloud Go's algorithm-driven discovery features makes it possible for your track, as an upcoming artist, to be queued right after a chart-topping track by an industry heavyweight. This will boost your track's visibility and create new fans for your music.

Moreover, SoundCloud Go gives your fans offline access to your music. Since SoundCloud Go subscribers have the option of saving your music for offline listening, your fans will have full-time access to your music. What's more, these offline pays will give a boost to your SoundCloud statistics, regardless of whether they have an internet connection or not.

US-based SoundCloud creators (the service has only launched in the US so far) with pro-unlimited accounts get access to SoundCloud Go at discounted rates of $4.99 instead of the standard $9.99. This discounted rate is valid for the first six months of subscription.

Verdict

Since the service only launched recently and in just one country, the jury is still out whether SoundCloud Go will be a hit or miss. There are still a number of issues that SoundCloud Go needs to iron out. There are still a number of big artists missing from SoundCloud Go, including Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake.

Another feature where SoundCloud Go falls behind is in album search. In fact, the service doesn’t include any form of album search. However, the ability to download songs is a very big plus for the service, and will be a major determinant in the success of SoundCloud Go.

If SoundCloud’s gamble on Go pays off, the platform will become even more important for music creators than it already is. With more musicians using the service, however, competition will only increase. This means that it will likely be even more difficult to get your SoundCloud tracks discovered going forward.

Featured image via CNET

Date: May 12, 2016 / Categories: Getting Discovered, New Stuff, / Author: Viv