Rdio

Last updated

Rdio
Rdio.svg
Developer Pandora Radio
Key peopleAnthony Bay (CEO)
Carter Adamson (Co-founder)
Niklas Zennström, Janus Friis [1] (Founders)
Launch dateAugust 3, 2010 (2010-08-03)
DiscontinuedDecember 22, 2015
Platform(s) Web, iOS, Android, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, OS X, Windows, Roku OS

Rdio (pronounced "r-dee-oh") was an online music streaming service that offered ad-supported free streaming and ad-free subscription streaming services in 85 countries. [2] It was available as a website and via app for Android, BlackBerry, iOS, and Windows Phone mobile devices, which could stream music from Rdio's servers or download music for offline playback; [3] there were also clients for the Roku OS and Sonos systems. The web-based service also offered a native desktop client application for OS X and Windows, as well as a Windows Store application. [3]

Contents

Rdio's library had content from the four major record labels, as well as the Merlin Network and the aggregators BFM Digital, Catapult, CD Baby, boomertunes, INgrooves, and The Orchard. [4] Rdio also offered social networking features, such as the ability to share songs, albums, and playlists with others on Rdio and social networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

On November 16, 2015, Rdio filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in which they had to pay $200 million and announced the sale of certain intellectual property to Pandora Radio. [5] The purchase price was $75 million in cash. [6]

History

Rdio was available in over 60 countries. Availability of Rdio in the World.svg
Rdio was available in over 60 countries.

Rdio was launched by Skype Technologies founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis on August 3, 2010. At the time they had to compete with services such as Deezer, MOG, Napster, Rhapsody, and Spotify. On September 27, 2013, Rdio added a music recommendations feature that delivered personalized albums, stations, and playlists. [9] On January 16, 2014 Rdio introduced some free streaming options, supported by audio advertisements. [10]

On November 16, 2015, Rdio filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and reached a deal to sell certain assets and intellectual property to a competitor, Pandora, for $75 million, pending approval by the bankruptcy court. As part of this transition, the Rdio service was discontinued effective December 22, 2015, [11] and some employees were transferred to Pandora, which planned to introduce an "expanded" experience incorporating this IP in late 2016. [12] [13]

Vdio

On April 2, 2013 Rdio launched Vdio, a movie and television show streaming service. Vdio was set up similarly to Rdio but adopted a pay-per-view model. The service focused on newly released titles from major Hollywood studios like Disney, Fox, Universal Studios, and Warner Bros. [14]

Current Rdio subscribers were given US$25 in credit to spend on Vdio. [15]

Vdio was shut down on December 27, 2013. [16] [17]

Critical reception

In 2013, Entertainment Weekly compared a number of music services and judged Rdio the best, grading it "A" and writing that it had "by far the best app and online interface, making database searching and playlist curation easy". [18]

Partnerships

Oi - On November 1, 2011, Rdio entered the Brazilian market by announcing a partnership with Oi, Brazil's largest telecommunications company, under the brand name Oi Rdio. [19]

Cumulus Media - On September 16, 2013, Cumulus Media announced a deal with Rdio that gave the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States an online outlet. This partnership gave Rdio broad access to its programming and promoted Rdio on Cumulus stations. [20]

Tesla Motors - On February 6, 2014, Tesla Motors’ CEO Elon Musk announced Rdio would be integrated into its cars in Europe as the default dashboard audio service. [21]

Google Chromecast - On March 31, 2014, Google announced a deal that made Rdio available on Chromecast in 12 countries. [22]

Jaguar Land Rover - In January 2015, Rdio announced a partnership with Jaguar Land Rover. [23] The application went live on Jaguar LandRover's InControlApps Platform on July 3, 2015.

HEOS by Denon - In July 2015, HEOS by Denon announced its new partnership with Rdio. [24]

Roku - Rdio is a special app button on the 'Roku 3' remote control, along with Netflix, Amazon, and Hulu.

Acquisitions

On March 14, 2014, Rdio acquired Indian Music streaming service Dhingana, to push global expansion. [25]

On June 30, 2014, Rdio acquired the social music discovery service TastemakerX. [26] The entire TastemakerX team joined Rdio with TastemakerX CEO Marc Ruxin becoming the new COO.

On November 16, 2015, it was announced that Pandora Radio would acquire Rdio for $75 million in cash. [27] Rdio ceased streaming music on December 22 the same year. [11]

API

Launched in 2011, Rdio's API allowed developers to add music to a web or mobile application with the ability to search, access, and play all of the artists, songs, albums, playlists, and charts in Rdio's catalog. [28]

Related Research Articles

Cumulus Media, Inc. is a broadcasting company of the United States and is the second largest owner and operator of AM and FM radio stations in the United States ahead of Audacy and behind iHeartMedia. As of June 2019, Cumulus lists ownership of 428 stations in 87 media markets. It also owns and operates Westwood One. Its headquarters are located in Atlanta, Georgia. Its subsidiaries include Cumulus Broadcasting LLC, Cumulus Licensing LLC and Broadcast Software International Inc.

Pandora is a subscription-based music streaming service owned by the broadcasting corporation Sirius XM Holdings that is presently based in Oakland, California inside of the United States. The service carries a focus on recommendations based on the "Music Genome Project", which is a means of classifying individual songs by musical traits such as genres and shared instrumentation. The service originally launched in the consumer market as an internet radio service that would generate personalized channels based on these traits as well as specific tracks liked by the user; this service is available in an advertising-supported tier and additionally a subscription-based version. In 2017, the service launched Pandora Premium, which is an on-demand version of the service more in line with contemporary competitors.

Amazon Prime Video, or simply Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered both as a stand-alone service and as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced by Amazon MGM Studios or licensed to Amazon, as Amazon Originals, with the service also hosting content from other providers, content add-ons, live sporting events, and video rental and purchasing services.

Amazon Music is a music streaming platform and digital music store operated by Amazon. As of January 2020, the service had 55 million subscribers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shazam (music app)</span> Music identification application

Shazam is an application that can identify music based on a short sample played using the microphone on the device. It was created by the British company Shazam Entertainment, based in London, and has been owned by Apple since 2018. The software is available for Android, macOS, iOS, Wear OS, watchOS and as a Google Chrome extension.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">TuneIn</span> American audio streaming service

TuneIn is a global audio streaming service providing news, radio, sports, music, and podcasts to over 75 million monthly active users.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Songza</span> Free music streaming and recommendation service

Songza was a free music streaming and recommendation service for Internet users in the United States and Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plex Inc.</span> Streaming media service

Plex Inc. is an American software company that runs its namesake ad-supported streaming media service that provides television shows and movies to users worldwide, and allows them to discuss and discover content across all major subscription streaming services. Plex also develops media server software and a series of apps that allows users to stream their personal media collections from their servers to their various devices. Plex Inc. is based in Campbell, California.

Deezer is a French music streaming service founded in 2007. The company has been a subsidiary of Access Industries since 2016. Deezer is available via web and on various digital platforms, including Android, iOS, macOS and others.

Spotify is a Swedish audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 615 million monthly active users, including 239 million paying subscribers, as of March 2024. Spotify is listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the form of American depositary receipts.

A music streaming service is a type of online streaming media service that focuses primarily on music, and sometimes other forms of digital audio content such as podcasts. These services are usually subscription-based services allowing users to stream digital copyright restricted songs on-demand from a centralized library provided by the service over the internet. Some services may offer free tiers with limitations, such as advertising and limits on use. They typically incorporate a recommender system to help users discover other songs they may enjoy based on their listening history and other factors, as well as the ability to create and share public playlists with other users. It may also include customized radio or social media platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Echo Nest</span> Music intelligence and data platform company

The Echo Nest is a music intelligence and data platform for developers and media companies. Owned by Spotify since 2014, the company is based in Somerville, MA. The Echo Nest began as a research spin-off from the MIT Media Lab to understand the audio and textual content of recorded music. Its creators intended it to perform music identification, recommendation, playlist creation, audio fingerprinting, and analysis for consumers and developers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Google Play Music</span> Online music locker and streaming service, 2011–2020

Google Play Music was a music and podcast streaming service and an online music locker operated by Google as part of its Google Play line of services. The service was announced on May 10, 2011; after a six-month, invitation-only beta period, it was publicly launched on November 16, 2011, and shut down in December 2020.

iTunes Radio Former Internet radio service by Apple

iTunes Radio was an Internet radio service by Apple Inc. that let users listen to automatically generated playlists based on direct input as well as collected data on music preferences. It was launched on September 18, 2013, as part of iOS 7 and was available in the Music app on iOS devices and Apple TV as well as in iTunes 11.1 on OS X and Windows. It was only available in the United States and Australia.

The following is a list of on-demand music streaming services. These services offer streaming of full-length content via the Internet as a part of their service, without the listener necessarily having to purchase a file for download. This type of service is somewhat similar to Internet radio. Many of these sites have advertising that supports free-to-listen options as well as paid subscription-based premium options.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chromecast</span> Line of digital media players developed by Google

Chromecast is a line of digital media players developed by Google. The devices, designed as small dongles, can play Internet-streamed audio-visual content on a high-definition television or home audio system. The user can control playback with a mobile device or personal computer through mobile and web apps that can use the Google Cast protocol, or by issuing commands via Google Assistant; later models introduced an interactive user interface and remote control. Content can be mirrored to video models from the Google Chrome web browser on a personal computer or from the screen of some Android devices.

Google Cast is a proprietary protocol developed by Google for playing Internet-streamed audiovisual content on a compatible consumer device. The protocol is used to initiate and control playback of content on digital media players, high-definition televisions, and home audio systems using a mobile device, personal computer, or smart speaker. The protocol was first launched on July 24, 2013, to support Google's first-generation Chromecast player. The Google Cast SDK was released on February 3, 2014, allowing third parties to modify their software to support the protocol. According to Google, over 20,000 Google Cast-ready apps were available as of May 2015. Support for Google Cast has since been integrated into subsequent devices, such as the Nexus Player and other Android TV devices, as well as soundbars, speakers, and later models of the Chromecast. Consumer devices that natively support the protocol are marketed as Chromecast built-in. As of October 2017, over 55 million Chromecasts and Chromecast built-in devices have been sold.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Line Music</span> Japanese music streaming service

Line Music is a subscription-based music streaming service by Line Corporation that combines existing Line Messenger app with the entertainment system that users not only can stream the music on-demand, but users can share the music directly to Line Messenger. The chairman for the Line Music division is Lim-Suk Jun. The Line Music app is an alternative version of Naver VIBE in South Korea. It is considered as the biggest listening app in the country.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Haystack News</span> OTT platform for news videos

Haystack News is a free ad-supported streaming service for local, national and international news video available on smart TVs, over-the-top platforms and mobile apps. Haystack uses data from each user—such as location, topics of interest and favorite publishers—to create a personalized playlist of short news clips. The platform also hosts live channels from local, national and international news outlets.

References

  1. ↑ "Music subscription service Rdio launches". USA Today. August 3, 2010. Retrieved August 6, 2010.
  2. ↑ "Rdio - Availability". Rdio. Archived from the original on April 9, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  3. 1 2 "Rdio music service throws open its doors". MacWorld. August 3, 2010. Retrieved August 9, 2010.
  4. ↑ "Social Music Service Rdio Officially Launches". Digital Media Wire. August 3, 2010.
  5. ↑ "Rdio Is Being Acquired By Pandora". Gizmodo. November 16, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2015.
  6. ↑ "Pandora to Acquire Key Assets from Rdio". Pandora Corporate Communications. November 16, 2015. Archived from the original on November 19, 2015. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
  7. ↑ "Rdio Expands To 60 Countries". Rdio. May 19, 2014. Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  8. ↑ "Rdio brings its music streaming service to India". Rdio. January 15, 2015. Retrieved January 15, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Rdio Launches Personalized Music Streaming Recommendation Feature On Web". CEOWORLD Magazine. September 27, 2013. Retrieved September 27, 2013.
  10. ↑ "Rdio introduces unlimited free streaming alongside subscriptions". Ars Technica. January 17, 2014. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  11. 1 2 "Rdio will shut down for good in one week". Engadget. AOL Inc. December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  12. ↑ "Pandora To Buy Rdio Assets For $75M In Cash, Rdio Files Ch.11 And Shuts Down Service". TechCrunch. AOL, Inc. November 16, 2015. Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  13. ↑ Roettgers, Janko (November 16, 2015). "Pandora Is Acquiring Music Streaming Service Rdio For $75 Million". Variety . Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  14. ↑ Roettgers, Janko. "Four years in the making, Vdio finally opens up to Rdio subscribers in the US and UK". Gigaom. Archived from the original on November 18, 2015. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  15. ↑ "Rdio offers launches Vdio for TV, movies". 3 News NZ. April 4, 2013. Archived from the original on December 28, 2013. Retrieved April 3, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Frequently Asked Questions". November 2, 2023. Retrieved May 23, 2024.
  17. ↑ "End of Vdio Beta FAQ".
  18. ↑ Anderson, Kyle (January 18, 2013). "What's the Best Music Service?". Entertainment Weekly . New York: Time Inc. p. 14. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved July 17, 2013.
  19. ↑ Dante Cesa (November 1, 2011). "Rdio gets rechristened 'Oi Rdio' while vacationing in Brazil, has plans to visit Germany and Australia". Engadget . Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  20. ↑ Ben Sisario (September 15, 2013). "Online Music Service Rdio in Deal With Cumulus". The New York Times . Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  21. ↑ Brittany Hillen (February 6, 2014). "Tesla taps Rdio for integrated audio service in Europe". Slashgear. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  22. ↑ Darrell Etherington (March 31, 2014). "Rdio Adds Chromecast Support For TV Music Streaming". TechCrunch . Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  23. ↑ Dante Cesa (November 1, 2011). "New For 2015: Jaguar and Land Rover Integration and Partnerships with DTS, LG Electronics and Hisense". Rdio. Archived from the original on July 22, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  24. ↑ "HEOS™ by Denon & Rdio Partner to Expand Reach Around the World and in the Home". usa.denon.com. Archived from the original on September 8, 2015. Retrieved October 9, 2015.
  25. ↑ Pankaj Mishra (March 13, 2014). "Rdio Acquires India's Troubled Music Streaming Startup Dhingana To Push For Global Expansion". TechCrunch . Retrieved May 20, 2014.
  26. ↑ "Hipster music app Rdio gets even hipper, acquires TastemakerX". Pando. June 30, 2014. Archived from the original on August 10, 2017. Retrieved August 10, 2017.
  27. ↑ Janko Roettgers (November 16, 2015). "Pandora Is Acquiring Music Streaming Service Rdio For $75 Million". Variety . Retrieved November 16, 2015.
  28. ↑ Leena Rao (March 11, 2011). "Social Music Startup Rdio Pushes Play Button For API, Affiliate Program". TechCrunch. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
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