Sony and Soundcloud were recently in talks about a way to monetize music on the Soundcloud platform. They were not able to reach a conclusive deal and as a result, Sony has decided to pull all of its artists’ music from the site. Perhaps it is in retaliation for Soundcloud striking a deal with Warner but denying Sony. As one of the Big three record labels, taking down its entire track inventory will no doubt reduce the amount of traffic on Soundcloud. However, the biggest casualties in this dispute are the artists, many of which amassed much of their popularity from Soundcloud, and us, the listeners. Soundcloud is a much frequented platform which offers free streaming, and many fans are subscribed to their favorite DJs and producers as a way to keep up with their latest work. Once Sony goes through with pulling songs, we will have one less avenue of discovery.
One artist in particular is up in arms about this corporate feud. The French DJ-producer Madeon has strong feelings of resentment towards his label which he expressed through a series of posts on Twitter. In one tweet he expresses gratitude towards Soundcloud, and sardonically addresses Sony saying “Well done Sony for holding your own artists hostage.”
As listeners, the only thing we can do at the moment is to give these artists’ tracks some final listens. Get to Madeon’s Soundcloud here and tell us what you think about this music industry brawl on our Facebook or Twitter.
Important things happen in Pacific Northwest nightlife, and DMNW will send you alerts!
