Two days after it was announced that Apple Music would begin to stream previously unlicensed material on their platform, an unprecedented move, Soundcloud bounces back with major, major news… But, is it enough?
It seems that a deal between Soundcloud and Sony Music has been struck, completing Soundcloud’s hat trick of major labels. The same stipulations applied to Sony as they did to Universal and Warner, in that “SoundCloud adds a subscription tier to its offering sooner rather than later.” With the addition of Alison Moore as their new Chief Revenue Officer last week, that time seems to be coming much, much sooner.
In addition to the licensing deal allegedly agreed upon between Sony and Soundcloud, Music Business Worldwide exclusively learned that Sony will take “equity in the streaming business as part of the deal.” Sony has also been invited to participate in Soundcloud’s next round of funding. 
MBW writes, “SoundCloud has also signed licensing agreements with Merlin, which represents 20,000 independent labels worldwide, in addition to publishing collective the NMPA.”
So it seems that Soundcloud is not down and out yet! While no press release has been issued by Soundcloud, suggesting that a contract has not yet been ratified, the Berlin company is fighting with everything it has, and it’s apparently too early to tell what the outcome of this news will be.
