SoundCloud Co-Founder Says the Company Will Introduce a Paid Tier

SoundCloud will soon introduce a paid subscription tier for users, a company co-founder told the Wall Street Journal.

Eric Wahlforss, who is also the company's chief technical officer, didn't give the WSJ any more details on what users would get as part of the paid tier, but said the company plans on making it a chief source of revenue going forward.

The company's two current sources of revenue are the membership fees charged to uploaders and advertising revenue collected as part of their sponsored content program.

For sheer scale, SoundCloud is one of the biggest streaming services, with 100 million available tracks and 175 million users (compared with Spotify's 75 million).

Much of the streaming service's catalog draws from DJ mixes, and in recent months, labels and publishers have gotten serious about making sure they're getting paid for tracks that are used in those mixes.

Currently, SoundCloud only has a licensing deal with Warner, though Wahlforss told the WSJ he's confident deals with Sony and Universal are coming soon. In the meantime, the new paid tier is a convenient way for SoundCloud to get the cash they need to pay the major labels.