Mixcloud — a user-generated audio site similar to SoundCloud but with more of a focus on long-form content — just signed a licensing deal with Warner Music, the Financial Times reports. This means that the site can soon begin to offer subscriptions. Mixcloud plays host to around 17 million listeners per month who tune in to some 12 million radio shows, DJ sets and podcasts. Some of its content generators include Tiesto, David Byrne of the Talking Heads and The Guardian.
Interestingly, Mixcloud says it’s not interested in pursuing the typical $10 per month payment structure utilized by Apple and Spotify. “We don’t want to do the $9.99 a month. That’s done. That market is served,” Mixcloud cofounder Nico Perez told the Financial Times. “What we’re building is going to be very customised.” The company said in a statement, “The deal will help enable an innovative subscription offering that allows fans to subscribe to individual creator channels for a more interactive listening experience. This approach will help audio creators on the platform monetise their content by developing a new marketplace for audio subscriptions.”
How this innovative subscription offering will play out is yet to be determined because Mixcloud is still negotiating with Universal Music and Sony Music. Warner recently made new deals with Spotify and Apple Music, but because Mixcloud offers much different content than those two and isn’t positioned as their rival, the music giant was more open to Mixcloud’s less typical payment structure. “If we do this right, you could see people subscribe to more than one service,” Warner Music Chief Digital Officer Ole Obermann, told the Financial Times.