SoundCloud ‘Go’ makes its way to the UK…
After much anticipation, SoundCloud finally launched its paid subscription service ‘Go’ in the US on March 29th. Now, less than 5 weeks after it launched in America, the latest paid music experiment has announced its expansion into the UK and Ireland.
SoundCloud says Go will cost £9.99 in the UK, and 9.99 euros in Ireland.
Now that the platform has launched its paid subscription service and is expanding it across different countries, it has the opportunity to be a big player in the music subscription market. The service already has a massive following with more than 175 million active users, which is largely due to its unique content and the flexibility its two-way platform provides: SoundCloud allows the user to create more varied playlists, while bundling DJ mixes and original tracks together.
Though, like YouTube, SoundCloud has the challenge of converting these 175 million monthly active users into paying subscribers. It’s an incredibly steep challenge and something that YouTube has yet to accomplish.
Another point here is that the platform has been long-established as a free service, which will inevitably make it more difficult for customers to adapt to the notion of paying. Even if a monthly fee translates into better features and benefits.