MUMBAI: SoundCloud has announced that it has struck a deal with Merlin Network, which is one of the largest independent label and publishing consortiums in the world, and has over 20,000 artists on its roster. This move will help create monetisation opportunities for independent artists.

In a statement, SoundCloud said, "The indie community has always been at the heart of SoundCloud, and our deal with Merlin is another way for us to further support the independent community by opening a new source of revenue for them."

Merlin currently commands over 10 per cent of the digital market, with more than 20,000 independent record labels. The indie artists will be able to join On SoundCloud and select tracks they want to make available for inclusion. Amongst the many labels which joined hands with SoundCloud, world famous ones such as Beggars Group, Domino, Secretly Group, Epitaph, PIAS, Warp Records, Armada Music, Ninja Tune, Kontor Records and many more are present. Users will be able to discover and listen to more new tracks from “the best independent label creators on the planet”, knowing that the respective artists will get the opportunity to earn revenue when their music is played.

SoundCloud currently plays host to over 175 million monthly users with over 100 million songs on its database, and has more than 12 hours of audio uploaded every minute to the website.