With the streaming industry at an all-time high, more ground-breaking news has surfaced onto the Internet. Earlier yesterday, Music Business Worldwide is reporting that SoundCloud “is on the verge of confirming a landmark licensing deal with Universal Music Group.”
Music Business Worldwide’s Tim Ingham reports:
Sources tell MBW that UMG has been demanding a significant equity stake in SoundCloud for any licensing deal to be inked, as well as guarantees regarding the forthcoming subscription tier.
An insider told MBW: “Universal had a couple of aggressive choices: they could either sue SoundCloud, which wasn’t off the table, or refuse to play ball with them and watch them slide out of existence as money ran low.
“But Universal knows that a world with a SoundCloud that it can control is better than a world without SoundCloud full stop – especially if that leads to a hundred clones popping up online.
“Initially, UMG’s demands were completely unacceptable to SoundCloud, but the balance of power – of who needs who to prosper – appears to have shifted since those days.”
Welp, it looks like Universal will gain most from the new deal.
