Back in the old days, music charts were mostly good for hit single montages in movies about struggling bands. These days, chart-making stalwart Billboard’s looking to offer up something more, bring its services into the era of streaming media, with a redesign that harnesses Spotify, Rdio and Myspace functionality, letting users listen to the day’s tracks in order of popularity, the way they were meant to be listened to, we guess.
Filed under: Internet, Software
Source: Billboard
Rdio has announced that users in several new countries – nearly its entire list of countries with access to the service – now have access to free music streaming. The users can score up to half a year of free music streaming via the Web, applicable to both current and new users. New users aren’t required to provide a payment method when signing up, instead getting immediate access to the service’s music library.
Rdio says this move is for people with both ears and hearts, those who enjoy free things and music and the blessed combination of both. The catch? Every month has a cap on the number of free songs that can be streamed. Access to Rdio’s 18 million song library is sans advertisements, with the length of the free period being dependent on how many songs the user listens to.
The music can be streamed using either a Web browser or Rdio’s desktop app, which is available for both Windows and OS X. The maximum length of the free period is six months. A song meter of sorts is provided so that users can monitor how much of their free listening period they have used on a monthly basis. Those who exceed the limit can subscribe to a for-pay plan for unlimited streaming.
Subscription plans in the United States start at $4.99, which allows for unlimited music streaming via a Web browser. Those willing to shell out a bit more can subscribe to the $9.99 plan, which allows for unlimited music streaming via both Web and mobile, in addition to ability to listen offline. Some of the locations that now have access include Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Norway.
[via Tech Whack]
Rdio announces free music streaming in several countries is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Rdio, an ad-free music subscription service created by Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, announced today that it is expanding to other countries, 15 to be exact, except for Germany and Brazil. The list, which includes the U.S., comprises U.K., Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden. And to top all of that, Rdio is also offering music lovers up to six months of free music on the web. (more…)
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Nokia Music+ Premium Music Service Unveiled, Samsung Music Hub Coming To Non-Samsung Devices, 
What’s better than free music? Lots of stuff, probably — but it’s still on the top of our list. Rdio is hoping to get you hooked into its vowel-agnostic music streaming ways with the promise of “up to six months of free music” without ads or credit card numbers. The deal adds a number of countries to the list (of which the US is already a member) — including the UK, Australia, Canada, France and Spain. There are 15 in total (again, already including the US). Germany and Brazil are sadly still excluded from the free music party. While the offering is ad-free, each month does include a limited number of plays (though Rdio’s not giving an exact number at the moment), which will count down on your page. More info on the offering can be found after the break.
Rdio Launches Free Music Streaming in Nearly All Countries Where Rdio is Available
Rdio, (www.rdio.com), the streaming music service from the co-creator of Skype, is now offering music lovers up to six months of free music on the Web in nearly all countries where Rdio is available1. New Rdio listeners can sign up and activate free streaming at rdio.com, with no credit card required, then dive right into Rdio’s library of over 18 million songs.
This new offer is specifically designed to appeal to people with ears and hearts. Free streaming is available through the Web or Rdio’s desktop apps for Mac and Windows, and allows listeners to:
● Choose from over 18 million songs, without ads
● Listen free on the web for up to six months, depending on how many songs you stream
● See and hear what your favorite artists are listening to
● Discover new music by following friends and tastemakers
● Create, curate, and collaborate on playlists
● Share your life soundtrack in real time on Facebook and Twitter
A meter at the top of user profile pages lets people know how much free music they have remaining each month. It’s easy to upgrade any time to one of Rdio’s subscription plans for unlimited streams and access to Rdio’s acclaimed mobile apps. US plan options include:
● Rdio Web: $4.99 a month. Unlimited Web streaming.
● Rdio Unlimited: $9.99 a month. Unlimited Web and mobile streaming, as well as wireless syncing to listen offline.2
Music fans can sign up for free Rdio streaming right now at www.rdio.com.
It’s time to get smart with the developers behind the music streaming app Rdio – updated today for iOS as well as Android. This update brings on a fully redesigned user interface that’s ever-so-slightly cleaner than we’ve ever seen from the app before and will likely instill much more confidence in the system for both artists and those looking to subscribe to the pay service. Last month the team launched a Rdio Artist Program and a massive advertising campaign over the past few months to bring the app into prominence.
We’ve seen the most major billboards in Time’s Square showing off no less than the logo for this app and a blast-faced Madonna looking over the landscape. Does that make a great app? Sure, why not? And while the developers behind this app were at it, they updated the software as well – might as well!
What we’re seeing here is an update that makes the app for mobile devices resemble the web browser-based environment, this bringing the whole family together for a fun party. You’ll see an extremely large back-library of artists still sticking around through this update – essentially the same as Spotify with 18 million. While it would appear, according to TechCrunch’s figures, that Spotify is the more popular of the two services, Rdio may well be coming up quick.
The new Rdio app update will certainly have you thinking twice about updating past that free trial you get when you first sign up. If on the other hand you’re in the mood for free music at home, you’ve got lots of choices beyond Rdio – lots with advertisements backing them up, of course. Rdio remains the same as it was when it launched all those months ago – free trial to pay-to-use only – and no advertisements anywhere.
This app is available for download in the iTunes App Store now. It’s also available in a slightly different iteration for Android in the Google Play app store right this minute!
Rdio updated for iOS and Android with fully re-booted UI is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Rdio’s done a pretty decent job at often keeping its desktop and mobile apps updated with fresh features. With that in mind, the streaming service has just pushed out v2.0 of its iOS application, which includes a novel and very sleek design that, as you can see above, brings an all-new navigation bar, as well as the addition of a unified player to make syncing across multiple devices easier and a remote control feature to let folks tinker with other Rdio apps. Of course, this new version (2.0.0, to be precise) is compatible with the usual iOS suspects (iPod touch, iPhone and iPad) — and, better yet, you can grab the updated app now directly from your Cupertino device or via the source link below.
Update: Android users haven’t been left out, as the updated UI is now officially available on Google Play. Hit the Rdio blog for more details or the source link to grab the app directly.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile
Via: Rdio Blog
Source: iTunes (App Store), Google Play
Rdio has spent a large part of 2012 revamping its mobile app, and a new beta shows that it’s still full of ideas with two months left to go. The 2.3 test version makes the ubiquitous hidden sidebar even more unavoidable than we’ve seen before, but those not irked by UI homogeneity will be happy to see Rdio gain some multi-device harmony: along with syncing whatever’s being played from desktop to mobile and back, the beta introduces a remote control that lets Android gear either serve as the remote or as a target for other devices. A play-later queue persists across devices, too. Although we haven’t been given a timeframe for the finished version pushing out through Google Play, there’s nothing stopping avid subscribers from taking a slight risk with the beta and getting a taste of their musical future.
Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio/Video, Mobile
Rdio posts Android beta app with new sidebar UI, unified playback and remote control originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Oct 2012 21:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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We’ve known that Microsoft has been working on a music service for a while now, and we finally got a chance to check it out first hand. Xbox Music is exactly what you’d want in a streaming service and store. It’s complete in a way that Spotify, Amazon, and even iTunes aren’t. Microsoft’s new music platform is wonderful, basically. More »
One of the biggest cost centers for streaming audio providers is royalties paid to artists and music publishers. Music streaming company Rdio has announced a plan that will see it pay musicians a significant amount of money for each new subscriber the artist brings to the streaming service. Rdio launched an Artist Program this week that will pay musicians as much as $10 per subscriber.
Looking a little closer at the Artist Program, it appears to be aimed at independent musicians who are into self-promotion. Participating artists can use social media to share songs of their own creation or from other artists via links. The song links are trackable and can be embedded via social media and elsewhere. Each new subscriber created by clicking these embeddable links will get the artist $10.
Rdio says that it will provide participating artists with a dashboard showing real-time stats on where and how they’re getting their fans to sign up for the service. Rdio is specific in that the new Artist Program will not replace the existing royalty arrangements it has with music labels and artists. This new Artist Program is a complement to its existing arrangements.
Artists who have a popular and loyal social media following could rack up a decent amount of money with this new program. Specific requirements an artist needs to meet to be allowed to participate in the Artist Program are unknown.
“There is no art without artists,” said Rdio’s founder Janus Friis. “As part of this industry, we know a business that doesn’t reward its most important contributors is a business that has to change. The innovation of the Internet should not be a barrier to the success of music artists; it should allow them to be even more successful.”
[via Fast Company]
Rdio to pay artists $10 for each subscriber is written by Shane McGlaun & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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