Rdio

Rdio’s international outlook in Canada and Brazil

Posted on by Anna Washenko

Two recent articles reviewed the international scope for Rdio. The service is available in 60 countries, but its top markets outside of the U.S. are Canada and Brazil. Mediacaster reviewed Rdio’s business activities in Canada, the service’s second-largest market. While smartphone use in third-largest market Brazil is on the rise, ZDNet cautioned that the country does struggle with the quality of its mobile Internet services. Continue Reading →

Rdio 3.0 launches, emphasizing ad-supported online radio

Posted on by Brad Hill

In a culmination of recent business developments, music service Rdio updated its apps and refocused its experience to emphasize free, ad-supported listening as a complement to its on-demand subscription service. The revised product line fulfills Rdio’s promise to open an ad-supported, free-listening line of business, as expressed by parent-company Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey in an April earnings call. We tested the iPod/iPhone app. Continue Reading →

T-Mobile adds six new music services to its free-data plan

Posted on by Brad Hill

T-Mobile today announced an expansion of its Music Freedom plan, in which smartphone subscribers get unmetered data streaming of music from partner sources. Six new services have been added to the original slate of services, announced in June. The newly added partners are AccuRadio, Black Planet, Grooveshark, Radio Paradise, Rdio and Songza. Detractors still wish for global access to data-free online music from any source. Continue Reading →

SoundHound adds automated Rdio playlist, following on Shazam’s heels

Posted on by Anna Washenko

SoundHound announced that it has launched a new feature called Connect to Rdio. This update automatically adds all songs that a SoundHound user discovers to a special playlist within Rdio. Before this update, SoundHound already had tie-ups with several streaming platforms. This particular Rdio news, though, is similar to an announcement made by Shazam in July. Continue Reading →

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Bop.fm raises $2M, positioned as a universal remote control for streaming music

Posted on by Brad Hill

Bop.fm, a streaming startup founded seven months ago in the Y Combinator seed-funding group, has obtained a $2-million funding round from Charles River Ventures. Bop enables music sharing on a platform that hooks into popular streaming services. In the RAIN review, we found a crucial feature glitch, but an overall terrific experience that emulates an interactive music service, drawing on external libraries. As such, Bop.fm serves as a remote control for Spotify, Beats Music, and Rdio, and makes it easier to share music. Continue Reading →