SoundCloud Cuts First Major Music Group Deal With Warner Music

Warner Music Group (WMG) today became the first major music group to announce a deal with the SoundCloud audio platform. The deal which covers both recorded music and Warner/Chappell Music publishing covers both SoundCloud's ad-supported creator partner program, "On SoundCloud", and a subscription streaming audio service that will launch in the first half of 2015. Soundcloud has been under increasing pressure from both investors and rightsholders to monetize the platform.

Mixes & Mashups Covered

Exact terms of the deal were not announced. But according to the announcement, the deal includes "innovative licensing terms that will provide WMG and its artists greater ability to manage the availability of content, while providing a path towards delivering additional revenue from user-generated mixes and mash-ups of WMG music."

"SoundCloud is a distinctly artist-driven service, with a highly engaged global fan community at its heart," Jonathan Dworkin, EVP, Digital Strategy & Business Development, WMG said. "This deal will enable SoundCloud to further develop its product as well as its massive user base, and will deliver multi-tiered monetization while preserving the elements that have made the service so popular. It’s a win for artists, for rights-holders and for consumers.”