SoundCloud recently announced the finalisation of a new licensing deal with Song Music Entertainment (SME) which would let its users listen to move songs, with SME artists now able to profit from the music provider. The deal, similar to other arrangements with Warner Music, Universal Music Group, and Merlin, means that Soundcloud can ‘continue to build a unique platform and empower our community of more than 10 million artists to share their work and connect directly with their fans’, stated the company’s blog, ‘it also means listeners will have more excellent music and audio to discover’

This partnership is important because the label (SME) is, according to Tech Crunch, the biggest music publisher in the world, and is already well known for having deals with music streaming services Spotify and Pandora.

Sony’s president of global digital business, Dennis Kooker, stated that the agreement ‘created a business framework for the use of Song Music songs on the SoundCloud platform that meets the needs of our artists and labels and supports growth of SoundCloud through its new premium on-demand music tier’. In addition, SoundCloud’s new relationship with SME ties in nicely with the provider’s plan to launch a subscription service later this year – a plan which was first expected in 2015, but was put off for reasons unknown to the public.