Streaming Wars: The Inevitable demise of Soundcloud.

Ahh Soundcloud, the don, the sensei, the greatest Hokage of all time (Naruto joke lool) Soundcloud has been there done that. Its laid the foundation for its fellow heavyweights of the market but with increasing competition and key losses in terms of USP, it might be time to put down the dying giant.

So what is Soundcloud best known for? Remixes! Soundcloud is synonymous for providing a plethora of remixes to original songs, if you were looking for music to shake your head or wig to, Soundcloud always had the playlist for the pre drinks or the main party! Unfortunately that is all now in doubt. According to billboard.com, Apple announced a deal with major distributor Dubset that allows them to post remixed playlists on their platform. Soundcloud is now in competition with Apple in a very niche market and with Soundcloud’s false number of subscribers (which I will get into later in this post) this does not help.

Lawsuits never signal the end of a cooperation but imagine 3 of the largest labels on the planet filing lawsuits for unpaid royalties? That’s like being robbed by three roadmen, Killer, Shankman and Older Murderer. In 2015 while still in talks with the major labels(Sony, Universal and Warner) about licensing agreements, major lawsuits were being prepared due to the pace of talks and unpaid royalties. Now I’m not expert but i’m sure that would’ve been in the billions and would almost cripple the company, fortunately for them, a licensing deal with each label was reached. In addition to being sued by labels, Soundcloud were also sued by PRS for music in august of 2015 due to failing to obtain a licence and unpaid royalties. According to the New York times, PRS represents 100,000 songwriters in UK.

Soundcloud Go! For years, Soundcloud was a free platform that has over 100 million users (inserts big fat LOL) that posted songs from their favourite artists. However due to their constant legal issues, major labels took down music from the platform. Once the licensing deals were confirmed, Soundcloud introduced their own premium streaming service, Soundcloud Go! From $9.99 you can stream music from your favourite artists. However, Soundcloud is like the marathon runner that started out very well but finished last! They’ve entered the paying market very very late and that doesn’t mean you should dismiss them initially but within time I do not believe that they will be able to keep up, Also how do they intend to turn over 100 million users into paying customers? In my opinion when a platform is not developed to monetise, its going to be extremely difficult to persuade customers to give them their hard earned money. According to Statista, Spotify have 30 million paying customers. The bar has been set, have Soundcloud entered the market too late?

In conclusion, Soundcloud were way ahead of their time and paved the way for other companies however, when a platform is not developed to montise, the struggles to change into a monetary platform was always going to difficult. Also I believe customers tend to be loyal to brands that enter the market early so for Soundcloud to turn their huge following into a profiting one will be an obstacle they will not be able to conquer.

Originally published at thepointldn.com on August 11, 2016.