BERLIN—Music distribution platform SoundCloud plans to launch a subscription service for consumers later this year as an additional means of generating revenue, said co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Eric Wahlforss, as royalty demands from record labels loom.

SoundCloud offers a website and app where consumers can listen to music uploaded by artists and disc jockeys. The service, sometimes described as a YouTube for music, provides not only original tracks but also remixes and DJ sets. SoundCloud offers therefore more than 100 million tracks. For comparison, streaming service Spotify, which focuses on original tracks, says its library has more than 30 million songs. The broad variety has made SoundCloud one of the most popular music services with about 175 million unique visitors per month.

Listening to music is currently free while SoundClouds generates revenue from uploading artists. In the U.S., the company also earns money from advertising, something it considers rolling out to other countries. Pepsi , car brand Jaguar and deodorant brand Axe are among the advertisers, according to Mr. Wahlforss.

Subscription plans for listeners will become SoundCloud’s third revenue stream, said Mr. Wahlforss. He declined to specify what subscribers will get that non-paying users won’t.

The subscriptions will move SoundCloud’s business model in the direction of Spotify’s. The vendor of music streaming offers subscription plans for about $10 per month and a free service where advertising is played between music tracks.