SoundCloud goes legit, licensing music from major label Warner
SoundCloud, known for its free-wheeling user uploads of music that often irked the traditional music industry, just got a major label to take it by the hand.
The Berlin-based music and audio-sharing company, often referred to as the "YouTube for audio," unveiled a deal with Warner Music Group on Tuesday. It sets up a licensing framework for music from Warner artists and songwriters to be part of a subscription service SoundCoud plans to launch next year, and it will include Warner content in SoundCloud's emerging system for putting ads with music and sharing the revenue generated from the commercials.
It's SoundCloud's first deal with one of the three major music labels and marks a milestone not only for the burgeoning platform but also the traditional industry's relationship with the digital-music upstart. For SoundCloud, it's a step toward coming of age, showing it can do more than stoke frenzied consumer usage -- it can also work with established players toward making money. For the traditional music industry, Warner's partnership is a recognition that SoundCloud has grown too big as a listening platform -- and marketing tool -- to ignore.
