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Business News Deals Digital Labels & Publishers
Sony and SoundCloud confirm and comment on licensing deal
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 21 March 2016
If you’ve been pining all weekend for quotes in relation to Sony Music’s licensing deal with SoundCloud – and I know I’ve been a shivering wreck ever since it became clear no quotage was going to be forthcoming in time for Friday’s CMU Daily – well, pine and shiver no more one and all. The quotes are in. And people are pleased. And people are excited. Though no one is “THRILLED”. Which is highly suspicious.
So yes, Sony Music’s long awaited deal with SoundCloud has now been confirmed, and it’s a “landmark agreement”, according to both the major and the streaming platform. Which is nice. Though isn’t that a bit of a slur on SoundCloud’s previous deal partners?
I suppose the Warner deal was a “landmark” because it was the first with a major rights owner. And the Merlin deal was “landmark” because it covered so many indies. And the Universal deal was “landmark” because it’s the biggest record company. And the Sony deal is “landmark” because it means all the majors are now on board. So many landmarks. We should try to monetise them somehow.
The deal covers Sony Music itself, its label services division RED, and its distribution company The Orchard. SoundCloud gets music owned and distributed by Sony for its evolving ad platform and in-development streaming service. Sony artists get insights and promo tools and lots of lovely money. And some equity. Some lovely equity.
“We are pleased to be making content from Sony Music Entertainment available to SoundCloud’s large userbase of highly-engaged, passionate music fans”, said Sony’s President of digital gubbins and Amercian sales, Dennis Kooker, on Friday night. Which, technically speaking, is when I stopped shivering. But that wouldn’t have sounded so dramatic in the intro to this story.
“This agreement creates a business framework for the use of Sony Music songs on the SoundCloud platform that meets the needs of our artists and labels”, Kooker continued. “And supports the growth of SoundCloud through its new premium on-demand music tier”.
Meanwhile SoundCloud chief Alexander Ljung, declared that: “Today is of particular significance to us as a company, as the addition of SME means we now have deals in place with all of the major music labels”. That’s Sony Music Entertainment he’s referring to there. Not a “small and medium-sized enterprise”. Sony Music isn’t a “small and medium-sized enterprise”. SoundCloud has no interest in them.
Ljung continued: “With SME now on board, we continue on our journey building a unique platform, empowering our community of more than eighteen million artists at every stage of their careers to share their work and connect with their fans, and enabling listeners to discover and be inspired by new music and audio. We are very excited to be working with SME and cannot wait to see what we can achieve together as we continue to transform the future of music online”.
Ah, the future of music online. That old thing. I look forward to it, everybody. Will there be cheese? If so, can it be Cheshire cheese?
