Image: Ted Eytan/Flickr
It's not often that entire new services get announced via an app's release notes, but here we are.SoundCloud has now launched a paid streaming music service called SoundCloud Go. SoundCloud first revealed the service when it released an updated version of its iOS app on Tuesday morning.The service promises an ad-free listening experience to a "newly expanded catalog of everything from Grammy-winners to garage bands." As of March 18, this "newly expanded catalog" now includes Sony Music, home to artists like Future and Zara Larsson. All told, SoundCloud Go's library will have more than 125 million songs—exactly the same as in the free version, but paid users won't have to deal with ads and they get the ability to save songs for offline listening.The service costs $12.99 per month when purchased as an in-app purchase, or $9.99 when purchased directly from SoundCloud's website. That's a standard move to make up for Apple's 30 percent cut on the App Store.The launch of SoundCloud Go comes just a few days after the Recording Industry Association of America revealed that streaming music revenue surpassed revenue from traditional downloads (like iTunes) for the first time in 2015—though by the narrowest of margins, with streaming accounting for 34.3 percent of the US market to 34 percent for downloads. All told, the US music market was worth $4.95 billion in 2015.