Music streaming services have always stuck with the standard $9.99/month price point for their premium services, with some offering ad-supported free versions, but Rdio wants to mix things up a bit. Probably in an attempt to gain ground ahead of the release of Apple’s own streaming service, Rdio has introduced a new low-cost subscription tier that undercuts pretty much all of its competitors with a $3.99/month price point.
In a bid to rocket up the streaming music service charts before Apple releases its own branded offering, industry upstart Rdio on Thursday launched a low-cost subscription tier starting at only $3.99 a month, undercutting much of the competition. Called Rdio Select, the special tier targets consumers who are interested in signing on to streaming music service, but are loathe to pay high monthly fees for special extra features that could go unused. As reported by BuzzFeed, the $3.99-per-month product includes ad-free streaming at 320 kbps, unlimited track skipping and daily download access to 25 songs from Rdio’s catalog. Rdio CEO Anthony Bay likened his company’s mid-tier offering to air travel, saying, “We’ve all been flying airplanes that had business class only. There is no coach.” By paring down features like unlimited downloads and on-demand streaming, Rdio is able to price its product significantly below the competition. For example, streaming music giant Spotify charges an industry standard $9.99 per month, as does Apple’s Beats Music. It should be noted, however, that Spotify also markets a free ad-supported on-demand option that has proven to be quite popular.
