After Apple made the decision to block its iTunes Radio stations behind a monthly subscription, Soundcloud has decided to go the other way.
The iOS app, which is built for both the iPhone and iPad, has recently been updated to version 3.17.0, and with it brought only one new feature: Stations. With it, Soundcloud users can start a new “track station” from the song they are listening to, which will then pull up a laundry list of new songs to listen to, from a variety of (similar) artists and genres. Soundcloud says it’s a way to get “an endless stream of new music,” and even says its a way for users to “discover tracks you can’t find anywhere else.”
It’s a well timed move, to be sure. iTunes Radio, with its plethora of free stations to listen to, launched back in 2013, and it only went behind a paywall in January of this year, locked behind Apple Music’s monthly subscription. Soundcloud has a user base of 175 million listeners every month, so a feature like this is probably a welcomed addition. And for folks that were using iTunes Radio without the subscription, another alternative now exists.
Adding another free feature is nice, but that’s not all the improvements that Soundcloud has in store for its users. The streaming service recently finalized licensing deals with the Universal Music Group, and there is talk that the service will launch its own monthly subscription at some point this year. If that does happen, it’s likely that Soundcloud will continue to offer a free tier, much like many of its competitors, and it would seem likely that Stations would stay in that realm. Of course, anything is possible, so it will be interesting to see what happens down the line.
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