The group's dark cover of ABBA's "SOS" was originally recorded for the 2016 film High-Rise, and today (8 July) it's been released exclusively through SoundCloud.
Portishead's decision to release it through SoundCloud comes after the streaming platform launched its own branding of a user-centric streaming model described as "fan-powered royalties" in April.
SoundCloud said to Music Business Worldwide that the model would see "each [SoundCloud] listener’s subscription or advertising revenue distributed among the artists that they listen to, rather than their plays being pooled", with an aim to "benefit rising independent artists with loyal fans".
According to Rolling Stone, Portishead's Geoff Barrow said of the cover and SoundCloud's new system, "When we heard that SoundCloud switched to a fairer user-centric payment system of streaming music, we were happy to make it the only place to stream our unreleased version of ABBA’s "SOS". After recording it years ago for Ben Wheatley’s film High-Rise, we are excited to finally share it with the world, and we are even more excited that all streaming profits are going to a great cause."
