SoundCloud Go: Company launches paid-for subscription service to listen offline and without ads

The site will now offer an extra catalog of music for those that subscribe — marking the first time that not everything available on Soundcloud is available for free

Panelists discuss Soundcloud at the Digital Life Design conference in 2011 (Sascha Baumann/Getty Images)

SoundCloud has now launched a paid-for, premium service that will come without ads — and offer access to music that nobody else gets to hear.

The company has launched its first paid service for listeners, promising extra music, no ads and offline listening.

SoundCloud has long been looking for a way to monetise the huge amount of music that it hosts, as well as avoiding getting into trouble with rightsholders over people uploading music that they don’t own.

Now the company appears to have launched its first attempt to do so, with Go. The paid-tier will cost $9.99 per month, and a similar price in other currencies, though new subscribers get a free trial for the first month.

For that money, people will get access to extra music beyond the normal songs that are found on the service. That puts it in competition with full streaming services, like Apple Music or Spotify, and it is being priced to match.

The company has long offered premium accounts for users. But those have been for people who are hosting music or other audio files, rather than listening to them, and offer things like extra space for more uploads.

“SoundCloud Go represents our vision of the future of music streaming: a platform for creators to collaborate on; for fans to discover the latest tracks, enjoy legendary music and connect with their favorite artists; and for our unique creative community to have the opportunity to be paid for their work,” said Alexander Ljung, SoundCloud’s founder and CEO, in a statement. “We are proud to offer the ultimate music streaming choice for both artists and fans and, together with the music industry, enable artists at all stages of their careers to be heard on SoundCloud.”