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THINGS TO KNOW

Rdio Comes to India with Over 32-Million Songs

January 14, 2015

Rdio, a leading global music streaming service now available in 61 countries, announced today its much-anticipated launch in India. The new service, available on any device, features the largest catalog to ever be available in India with over 32 million songs in 43 languages from global, regional and local labels. Users can choose from hundreds of curated stations, including those curated by some of the top labels in India, or create their own personalized stations. Rdio offers a programmed, free internet radio experience — no trial or subscription necessary. Rdio’s free radio experience can be upgraded to a full on-demand subscription service with access to any song, album, playlist or station, online or offline, without ads for $1.99 USD or 120 Rupees a month. Rdio listeners can enjoy their music on mobile, web, connected home audio, TV and automobiles.

“At Rdio, we’re focused on creating the world’s best music experience built around the listener,” said Anthony Bay, CEO of Rdio. “India is the fastest growing Internet market in the world with one of the most vibrant cultures for music. We have built a strong local organization here, which is now our largest office and team outside the U.S. Our objective is to raise the bar for the digital music experience in India and provide the most robust offering of music from around the world, all tuned to each individual listener.”

After acquiring Dhingana, the leading streaming music service in India, in March 2014, Rdio is enteringthe Indian market with a unique streaming experience unlike any other in the current marketplace. Rdio’s award winning application is widely recognized as the premier listening experience and its critically acclaimed internet radio service pulls from a catalog of songs and a wide variety of station types, including algorithmically generated artist and genre-based stations, human-curated stations programmed to fit any mood or activity, personalized stations tuned to each individual listener, and stations based on tastemakers and labels.

“Over the past seven years, my brother and I have dedicated our lives to bringing millions of users the diverse and wonderful music of India,”
said Snehal Shinde, VP of Emerging Markets at Rdio (Cofounder of Dhingana). “Last year Rdio acquired Dhingana and we set out to marry our Indian expertise and experience with the best global music platform. We are proud now to introduce Rdio to India, a world class product that delivers a global music service with a localized user experience for music fans in India and abroad.”

“The Indian music consumer is warming up to the music streaming services already very popular globally, and we are excited to partner with Rdio for their new internet music streaming service and are happy to offer our library of India’s top Bollywood catalog along with curated stations to make the listening experience effortless.” said Neeraj Kalyan President of T-Series.

Rdio’s unique features underscore its commitment to create the best-in-class internet radio experience through personalized music discovery, coupled with a best-in-class on-demand subscription offering.
Key features of Rdio include:

  • Browse — Where Rdio’s newly curated stations can be explored.
  • Home — An evolving and constantly refreshing feed of personalized music stories that surfaces the best of Rdio in a single destination. Stories are built around the listener’s music preferences, recent activity from tastemakers and friends, recommendations from Rdio experts, and more.
  • Favorites — Expanding listeners’ collections so they can keep track of everything they love, all in one place.
  • Trending — See which stations, songs, albums, artists, or playlists are popular among all Rdio music lovers, or toggle to people you follow and make it more personal.

Strategic Partnerships in India:
In addition to providing the largest catalog of songs in the market, Rdio offers listeners a wide variety of ways to enjoy their favorite music as seen through partnerships with mobile app and automotive brands:

  • Shazam users can now connect their Rdio account to get the tracks they discover automatically added to Rdio playlists. Rdio users can also go beyond the preview, playing full tracks from Rdio right in Shazam.
  • SoundHound also connects listeners directly with Rdio and enables discovered songs to be played back “in app” and also linked to a playlist in Rdio.
  • Google Chromecast casts Rdio content to the TV’s from Rdio iOS, Android, and Web apps.
  • Rdio provides interactive streaming music for all Volvos in India along with aftermarket car entertainment devices such as Pioneer AppRadioLive, and HARMAN Aha Radio.

Rdio, one of the world’s largest licensed music services, offers a catalog of over 32 million songs in 61 countries worldwide. Rdio’s mission is to provide access to every song, on every device, anywhere in the world instantly, online or offline — tuned to you. Rdio’s critically acclaimed applications combine the best of personal choice, social engagement, human curation, algorithmic personalization, and programming from taste-makers. Music fans can enjoy Rdio as either a free, personalized stations-first Internet radio experience or as a full on-demand subscription service. Founded by Janus Friis, co-creator of Skype, in August 2010, Rdio is headquartered in San Francisco. More information on Rdio is available at: www.rdio.com

TIMOTHY TRUDEAU

CEO of Syntax Creative. I like to build things and hear people laugh. I should have worded that better.