Soundsnap: new business model

One year ago we wrote about Soundsnap’s opening, and we’re glad of the success this sound sharing service has had during its first year. Unfortunately this comes at a cost, and Soundsnap has just announced a new business model.
There’s still a free account, which gets 5 downloads per month. And then there are the Soundsnap PRO accounts, which you can see here in the table…

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The reasons for this choice? Basically the success of the site, with up to 450.000 visits per months, and the fact that the site “licensed thousands of high quality FX from famous contributors”.
It seems the ads revenues were not enough to cover all these costs, and if it’s true this means bad news for the “free contents” business approach.
For professional sound-designers, I’m sure the cost of the pro accounts is affordable, while it could be a bit on the expensive side for common users (who need more than 5 sounds per month).
Let’s see what happens in the next weeks/months.