SoundCloud has become an ubiquitous tool for musicians to share their works since it launched in 2008, so it's not surprising to see it announce a partnership with music creation and production software designer Ableton. Users of Ableton Live or Ableton Suite will now get a free five-month upgrade to SoundCloud Pro (which typically cost €250 / year), and Ableton's software products will now support direct uploading and publishing to SoundCloud. The most noteworthy benefit of SoundCloud Pro is a full 36 hours of recording time, compared to only 120 minutes for free users or up to 12 hours if you purchase the €79 / year "Solo" plan. There's also unlimited downloading and advanced statistics available.

Anyone who currently owns the aforementioned software qualifies for the free SoundCloud Pro subscription, as does anyone who purchases between now and May 31st. If you're a SoundCloud user, but don't own Ableton, you'll get a chance to try it out — all SoundCloud users are eligible for a free Ableton Live Lite license. While the new integration between Ableton and SoundCloud is almost a necessity at this point, given how widespread SoundCloud usage is, the freebies are definitely a nice bonus — though if you're already using Ableton, chances are good you've also shelled out the cash for an upgraded SoundCloud subscription.