In the everlasting race to get more subscription revenue, SoundCloud is appealing to their creators. The streaming platform has continued to focus on monetization in recent years, creating new ways to bring in income while still supporting artists of all sizes with a place to upload their audio content. Today, they launched a new SoundCloud DJ subscription – allowing users to download music into select DJ apps to use offline.
What comes with it?
At $19.99, it’s a reasonable price to pay in exchange for access to the platform’s massive library both on- and offline. The features include:
- Saving unlimited tracks for offline playback within DJ apps
- Mixing SoundCloud tracks within said DJ apps (more on this below)
- Ad-free listening
- Streaming in high-quality audio
Integration with Serato, rekordbox & more
According to the Soundcloud blog, the new service will integrate with a number of DJ softwares:
With SoundCloud Go+ you can mix SoundCloud tracks with Serato DJ Lite and DJ Pro, Pioneer DJ’s rekordbox and WeDJ, Algoriddim djay and djay Pro, Native Instruments’ Traktor DJ 2, Virtual DJ, edjing Mix and Pro, Denon DJ PRIME Series, Mixvibes Cross DJ and DEX 3. We’ll be working to integrate more of these partners with SoundCloud DJ on an ongoing basis.
As of today’s announcement, SoundCloud DJ is available to use with Virtual DJ. Cross DJ and Denon DJ will be available in the coming months – with more partners coming soon, too.
For anyone keeping track, this looks to be Soundcloud’s own version of the Pulselocker technology (which was purchased by Beatport in 2018). Having offline access is critical for many DJs – which often draws into question the feasibility of streaming services for DJ use. Offline storage solves that problem to a degree.
Keeping up & moving forward
It looks like this will be the first of many new tools for artists in “the next generation”, and we’re intrigued to see what else is coming down the pipeline. One mentioned specifically is “curated playlists to help kickstart your sets” – an interesting step towards aiding DJs in their growth as artists.
The launch of SoundCloud DJ isn’t overly surprising, either – there have been so many announcements as of late about streaming integrations into DJ software, like Beatport and Beatsource with Serato and Denon’s Engine OS with SoundCloud Go+ and Beatport LINK. Being able to stream on your gear or computer from anywhere seems to be becoming commonplace, and it’s great to see SoundCloud roll with the punches.
Learn more about the service – check out the launch news on the SoundCloud blog, and sign up for it here.
