Thought that Soundcloud couldn’t get any worse? Think again. Now you can expect annoying product placement ads alongside your music, if you can get the site to ever load that is.
In an age where companies feel the need to squeeze money out of every corner of their product, even if it means sacrificing customer satisfaction, Soundcloud is joining the ranks of other money-grubbing companies like Facebook and..well mostly just Facebook.
Although the press release doesn’t say when we can expect these changes to roll out, we can’t imagine they’ll wait very long.
Here’s some more detail about On SoundCloud, our new creator partner program. Here’s the full breakdown.
On SoundCloud has three tiers: Partner, Pro and Premier.
The Partner tier is for you if you’re just getting started: it’s free and easy to join the community, share your first track, receive feedback and get basic stats.
The Pro Partner level is a paid offering if you’re ready to take the next step On SoundCloud. Pros get more upload time, advanced tools, features like Spotlight and detailed stats. As an added benefit, at the Partner and Pro levels, we’ve increased upload time by 50% — you’ll get it automatically if you already have a Pro or free account.
At the Premier partner level, creators will have the opportunity to make money from their tracks through advertising. It also includes Pro features and more benefits. At launch, entry to the Premier tier is by invitation. Monetization occurs only on content when it’s played in the US. We’ll open up the program to more creators and more countries as fast as we can.
The introduction of advertising is an important step for creators. Every time you see or hear an ad, an artist gets paid. If you’re in the US, you’ll start to experience occasional ads from our brand partners. We’re bringing ads on gradually. In addition to supporting creators, ads will keep the service free and open for people to listen to SoundCloud.
Creators have been at the heart of SoundCloud from the beginning. As we continue to develop our creator partner program we will bring you more tools, support, offerings and opportunities. We can’t wait to hear what you create On SoundCloud!
