Rdio beats Spotify to US launch
A new online music streaming platform, ‘Rdio’, has managed to beat Spotify to a US launch. Created by Janus Friis with Niklas Zennström, the co-founders of Skype and Kaazaa, Rdio is the latest music streaming site to be released in America.
Although a version of Rdio has been available for 2 months already, it required users to have been ‘invited’ by others in order to gain access. Since yesterday, however, anyone living in the United States or Canada is able to sign up for a three day free trial, before deciding if they wish to purchase a subscription.
Rdio costs $9.99 per month for unlimited web and mobile access (including the ability to listen to music offline), and $4.99 for web-only access.
As well as offering music, Rdio allows users to sign in with social-networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter, and see what their friends are listening to. It can also suggest songs and artists that users might like, based on their musical tastes and their friends recommendations. This social element has been emphasised as an important aspect of the service, with Carter Adamson, Rdio’s chief operating officer, calling the platform a “Twitter for music.”
Drew Larner, chief executive officer for Rdio, said: “Users love how simple it is to use. Imagine having an unlimited online jukebox which shows you what others are listening to – you can enjoy any song you want, as many times as you want, whenever and wherever you want. The social nature of Rdio means you can discover new songs every time you visit Rdio.”
Europe-based Spotify has been trying to launch in the US for over a year now, and had most recently targeted the end of 2010 for its US launch. Now that Rdio has successfully opened its subcription service, reports have said that Spotify may have to rethink its plans. However, US managing director Kenneth Parks seems optimistic, commenting: “We are in fact in a good place with our label negotiations. We’re confident in our US launch later this year.”
Rdio says that it has recently expanded its music base, offering over seven million songs from leading music companies like EMI, Sony, Universal, and Warner Music Group. By comparison, Spotify has a catalogue of approximately eight million songs.
However, Rdio and Spotify still face competition; startups ‘Pandora’ and ‘MOG’ are also providing similar services, and both Google and Apple are rumoured to be planning their own online music streaming platforms too. The demand for music streaming services is set to increase over the next few years, with Forrester Research predicting that the number of people subscribing will increase to more than five million by 2014, compared to 2.1 million today.