Soundcloud strikes royalty deal with 20,000 labels

Soundcloud has reached a royalty agreement with Merlin, a company that represents labels and small companies.

20,000 independent labels are represented by the digital service, meaning that those under Beggars Group (XL, Rough Trade, Matador) and the likes of Warp and Ninja Tune will all receive royalties through Soundcloud.

The agreement has been reached following recent actions by Sony, where it chose to remove music from Soundcloud by some of its biggest artists. The service has however struck a deal with Warner Music, one of the three biggest majors.

Alexander Ljung, of Soundcloud, says: “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.”

As of last month, Soundcloud had paid up to $2 million in royalties to artists and labels. It remains in talks with Universal in reaching a deal.