Rdio Announcing Free Music Service Ahead of iTunes Radio Launch This Week

Online music streaming service Rdio is announcing the launch of a free, ad-supported music service along with a new, $100 million partnership with radio operator Cumulus, reports The New York Times.

The move comes as Apple is officially launching its own ad-supported music streaming service, iTunes Radio, this week on September 18 with the public release of iOS 7. Currently, plans for Rdio start at $4.99 for web-only streaming, while unlimited web and mobile streaming is priced at $9.99.

Crucially for Rdio, which was introduced in 2010 and has struggled to gain a foothold in the market, Cumulus will also sell advertising for a free version of the service in the United States. Rdio, which costs $5 to $10 a month and is available in 31 markets around the world, lets its subscribers listen to millions of songs, build playlists and interact with other users.

Last month, rival music service Pandora announced that it was going to remove its 40-hour free listening limit ahead of the launch for Apple’s iTunes Radio, stating that it would again allow unlimited listening via mobile devices. Rdio updated its iOS app [Direct Link] with highly personalized radio stations early last month, and the app currently holds a four-star rating with over 9000 reviews since its release in October 2011.

Tag: iTunes Radio

Top Rated Comments

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stuffradio

83 months ago

This sucks. Canada gets nothing. No iTunes Radio, not Spotify, no Pandora, and Rdio still costs money here after the free trial.

Rating: 4 Votes

musika

83 months ago

It'll be hard to compete with a service that's built into an app that is commonly used and comes stock with 700+ million devices. But hey, good for them.

You know, besides the fact that they pay out essentially nothing (http://turtlepie.org/post/2013/5/independent-musician-broke) to independent musician. Good for them.

Rating: 2 Votes

macs4nw

83 months ago

Sarcasm :o

Got it....:cool:

Rating: 1 Votes

Szarky

83 months ago

This sucks. Canada gets nothing. No iTunes Radio, not Spotify, no Pandora, and Rdio still costs money here after the free trial.

I fell your pain. But soon(I hope), soon they'll iron out the contract deals and we'll get at least iTunes Radio. Apple tends to keep pushing into more and more markets with their services. I doubt they hold stuff back on purpose, pretty sure it's usually because of legal/contract stuff.

Rating: 1 Votes

FelixAng

83 months ago

iTunes Match at $25 a year, including ad-free radio...seems like a win-win. Especially because it'll be so convenient to finally BUY the music you're listening to.

Spotify, Rdio et al, just don't turn enough revenue to really pay artists anything---it's quite pathetic.

Rating: 1 Votes