SoundCloud, one of the web's most successful audio platforms, is planning to launch an advertising initiative and a subscription service.

The site has long been the go-to space online where artists -- both established and unsigned -- can launch new material.

Singer Lorde shot to fame after uploading her song "Royals" on the site.

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SoundCloud, which was a "freemium" service, was funded primarily by its Pro accounts and private funding.

Since its debut in 2007, the site has received more than US$100 million in funding.

Starting August 21, however, the company will introduce its three-tiered monetization strategy that includes advertising.

"This is where we start to figure out how to generate revenue and help our creators make money in order to enable them to build careers with us," said Jeff Toig, SoundCloud's chief business officer.

In order to build the company further and make money for the artists featured on the site, SoundCloud has developed a partner program called "On SoundCloud".

Through "On SoundCloud," a new Premier tier, which is by invitation only, will be offered to subscribers.

The tier will allow artists to charge for the content they choose through selective advertising. This will allow artists and record labels to collect royalties, which will do away with the pressure SoundCloud had to endure when it came to licensing content and producing revenue.

The eventual paid subscription will allow users to skip ads now being put in place, much like in Spotify. The first advertisers of SoundCloud include Red Bull, Jaguar and Comedy Central.

In June, Kaskade, a well-known D.J., shared his confusing views on SoundCloud.

He called the audio platform "so beautiful, so elegant" in an interview last week, but also criticized how it handles certain copyright issues that have been given focus in recent months.

But upon learning of the news, Kaskade shared his frustration about the "freemium" service becoming a paid-for platform. 

"They got this incredible service up and running off all these people that have been trusting it, and then they yanked the rug out from under them," he said.

According to SoundCloud CEO Alex Ljung, however, people might not react so negatively about the new initiatives.

"People know that SoundCloud is very much a creator platform. They understand that if they hear an ad, then a creator is getting paid for it as well," he explained