Major Music Labels To Hit Soundcloud With Copyright Infringement Lawsuits

Audio platform Soundcloud will possibly be forced to shut down as it has emerged that it will be hit with copyright infringement lawsuits from major music labels including Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and the Recording Industry Association Of America (RIAA).

It has been speculated for some time that labels would target Soundcloud and it seems unlikely that the service will be able to survive the legal action taken by the industry giants.

According to Music Snake, the news comes in the wake of Soundcloud's plan to switch from a free user service to subscription-based and after it failed to strike deals with UMG and Sony, lawsuits are expected to follow. 

The Sweden-founded service established in 2007 started as an unlicensed free music service where enthusiasts were encouraged to share music and discover new artists, but in recent times it has been edging into the mainstream market.

After the service began to draw music listeners away from the bigger labels, uploaders have recently found that their content is being blocked based on copyright claims.