Universal Music Group and SoundCloud have finally pushed their long-awaited licensing deal over the line, less than a month after the digital service settled its lawsuit with UK collection society PRS For Music.
SoundCloud said that the agreement allowed it ‘to benefit from UMG’s roster of emerging and established recording artists, as well as songwriters signed to Universal Music Publishing Group‘, as it rolls out advertising and introduces subscription services in the US and other markets later this year.
It is highly likely that, in order to attract Universal’s signature to the deal, SoundCloud gave up equity to UMG.
The DSP has struck other recorded music licensing partnerships in recent years with entities including Merlin – representing 20,000 independent labels around the world – and Warner Music Group, which is believed to own a 5% stake in SoundCloud as a result.
Sony Music Entertainment is now the only major music company not to have signed a licensing agreement with the platform.
“At UMG, we have long embraced empowering entrepreneurs and innovative services such as SoundCloud.”
Lucian Grainge, UMG (pictured)
UMG said that its labels and publishing company would ‘gain access to SoundCloud’s promotional tools, analysis and data’ to provide recording artists and songwriters with ‘new opportunities to generate revenue and to strengthen their connections with fans’.
“At UMG, we have long embraced empowering entrepreneurs and innovative services such as SoundCloud,” said Lucian Grainge, Chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group.
“With this partnership, we’re ensuring recording artists, songwriters and labels benefit, both creatively and commercially, from the exciting new forms of music community engagement on SoundCloud. We look forward to working with SoundCloud and supporting the company’s evolution into a successful commercial service.”
“With this partnership with UMG we will further strengthen and grow the unique community we’ve built over the past seven years, where multiple forms of expression can live and where artists at every stage of their careers come to create and share their work,” said Alexander Ljung, SoundCloud Founder & CEO.
“Bringing together the world’s largest audio platform and the world’s largest music company means we are able to further expand SoundCloud’s role as a critical platform for creators and open up its benefits to UMG’s extensive roster of artists.”
Ljung continued: “With the majority of the music industry partnering with us, and adding to the more than 100 million tracks already available to discover on the platform, we are able to offer a service to both creators and listeners that is unrivalled in the music streaming space today.”Music Business Worldwide
