
SoundCloud and Universal Music Agree to Licensing Deal - hannes2000
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/14/business/media/soundcloud-and-universal-music-agree-to-licensing-deal.html
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msvan
I think it's absolutely ridiculous that SoundCloud gets into the ring to
compete with Spotify, Apple Music et al. SoundCloud shines for small
musicians, independents, for actually building a community around music. The
other players don't do this. I blame VC money. Let's see if they can partner
with the big labels and avoid watering down what makes them unique.

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caractacus
This isn't about competing with Spotify. This about having the major labels on
board so people can remix and play with and use that content without
Soundcloud getting sued into oblivion. Maybe you'll find all of Kanye's albums
now added into Soundcloud as well but the point is to allow Soundcloud to
continue as it is - and that was never going to happen without some kind of
subscription. They have gazillions in VC funding and have to find a way to
monetise the site.

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james4k
Hmm, IIRC they had a surprisingly open streaming API (raw .mp3 stream). Doubt
that will be staying. :(

Edit: I see that API still exists at the moment. I wonder how that works with
the ads they have running on the website. Do you currently get no ads if you
use a custom player which uses that API?

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beedogs
Does this mean they'll finally stop their absolutely ridiculous policy of
removing mixtapes and remixes of popular songs, and of shutting down the
accounts of "offenders"?

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empressplay
Yes, but they'll put ads in front of them and give the money to the rights
holder, which is not a hindrance producers who create original material will
have to suffer with.

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svantana
As a remix artist myself, my experience from youtube (which I believe have
similar deals in place) is that rights owners will tolerate (i.e. monetize)
straight copies of their work, but many remixes, mashups and cutups get
blocked. Which is sad because I feel the opposite would be more beneficial to
pop culture as a whole (i.e. more interaction, variation and interpretation,
less passive consumption of blockbuster hits).

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tomsthumb
Echoing thoughts from one of the best documentaries of all time:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SaFTm2bcac](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SaFTm2bcac)

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S_A_P
The content I suppose is interesting if a bit pretentious, but the voice over
is like nails on a chalkboard.

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humbleMouse
Soundcloud stopped being cool the second they put ads on it. This just seals
it's fate as a youtube without videos.

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Altaer
The biggest problem I have with their ads is that I pay for SoundCloud and
still have to suffer through them :(

