Soundcloud has officially signed a deal with 20,000 independent labels. All of the labels are under the Merlin umbrella. Merlin is a huge agency that manages the digital rights for indie labels. Back in the fall, Soundcloud signed a licensing deal with Warner Music Group, however, they weren't able to reach a deal with Sony Music before they pulled their artists' music off of the site.
In a statement, Merlin CEO Charles Caldas said, “The independent label community has long embraced SoundCloud as an innovative marketing and discovery platform, and Merlin is pleased to partner with the service at the next exciting stage of its evolution." Soundcloud founder Alexander Ljung also expressed his joy that a deal was made. “Independent creators have always been at the core of SoundCloud, and with this partnership we’re thrilled to extend new revenue-generating opportunities to thousands of independent labels,” Ljung told the New York Times. Though Soundcloud has yet to launch it's paid streaming service, Ljung said an announcement would be made about it in the near future.
