Less than a calendar year after initially launching their SoundCloud Go paid streaming option, the company is already altering its plans. They recently announced a second tier that will cost only $4.99 per month, compared to the current $9.99 per month. In the process, they’re renaming their original paid plan SoundCloud Go+, with the new paid subscription tier taking the original name of SoundCloud Go.
So, what’s the difference between these two platforms? So far, not a whole lot. Both options allow users to listen to music ad-free with the option to save tracks offline onto your mobile device. The ‘Plus’ option will include access to 150 million songs versus 120 million tracks for the cheaper SoundCloud Go. It’s unclear exactly which tracks those could be, but our guess is the premium tracks that only show previews for non-paying users. SoundCloud has also promised “additional exclusive product features” for the premium users, but those features are currently a mystery.
The Berlin-based company is pulling out all the stops to pull in extra cash after a buyout from Spotify and then Google failed to materialize. The company also said via an internal memo that they could feasibly run out of money before the end of the year.
SoundCloud Go and Go+ are up against Spotify (40 million paying users), Apple Music (20 million paying users) and TIDAL (1 million paying users that may not actually exist). SoundCloud has never released paying subscriber numbers to the public.
[via TechCrunch]