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The days of ad-free SoundCloud are coming to an end

August 21, 2014
Updated: July 2, 2025 at 7:31 AM

The days of ad-free SoundCloud are coming to an end

Music streaming site SoundCloud will be getting advertisements soon. Today, the company announced its new On SoundCloud partner program to help content creators make money from their music.

Listeners can look forward to hearing 30 second ads before a song plays, similar to the ads served by Spotify. However, listeners can skip an ad after 15 seconds.

SoundCloud is also allegedly planning a subscription model so users can opt to pay for an ad-free experience. It’s unclear if or how musicians can control whether or not ads play before their songs.

The company boasts that it has four times the audience of Spotify, but that number could dwindle if users find ads intrusive. However, SoundCloud is hoping its users realize that each ad listened to will send money directly to their beloved artists.

The strategy can work, as SoundCloud has a passionate audience. The site is one of the few places on the internet where comments are overwhelmingly positive. Musicians also find SoundCloud’s social integration a great way to promote their music through the site’s Twitter-like “Repost” feature. SoundCloud has a ton of exclusive content on its site with many artists giving away music for free.

Source: SoundCloud