There’s some consolidation coming to the music streaming market.
Pandora has announced that it has agreed to acquire “several key assets” from Rdio, an on-demand music streaming service. Pandora will pay $75 million for Rdio’s technology and intellectual property, and Pandora will also bring several Rdio employees onto its team. Pandora notes that it’s not acquiring Rdio’s operating business, just its technology and talent.
“Adding Rdio’s impressive technology and talented people will fast-track new dimensions and enhancements to our service,” said Brian McAndrews, Pandora CEO. “I couldn’t be more optimistic about Pandora’s future and the future of music.”
As a result of the deal, Pandora says that it expects to bring “an expanded Pandora listening experience” by late 2016.
The Pandora-Rdio transaction is dependent on Rdio seeking bankruptcy protection from the US Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California. The court will oversee an auction for Rdio’s assets.
Rdio has been a big player in streaming music for years now. Unfortunately, it seemed like Rdio was having a hard time hanging with Spotify lately, and the new launch of Apple Music probably wasn’t going to help Rdio’s situation. It’s kind of a bummer to see Rdio go, because I used the service for a while and liked its design. Now it looks like Rdio is going to go away, which is disappointing for the folks that’ve stuck with it.
What will be interesting is seeing what Pandora does with Rdio’s tech and talent. Perhaps a new-look Pandora is in the cards or an expanded footprint? We’ll just have to wait and see. Unfortunately for us, the “expanded Pandora listening experience” could still be a year away.
Have you ever used Rdio?
