The music streaming market is crowded and ridiculously competitive, now more so than ever, which is why Rdio has always been one of the underdogs despite being an excellent service. In an effort to distinguish itself and better compete with the likes of Apple Music and Spotify, the company has teamed up with terrestrial radio company Cumulus to offer nearly 500 live broadcast radio stations to its users.
Rdio has never looked like more of an underdog than it does now. The beautifully made but underused streaming music app has never had more competition than it does today, and that competition has never been stronger. Spotify’s investment in social and discovery features has blunted Rdio’s traditional advantage in product, and the company now has more than 20 million subscribers. More than 11 million people have signed up for the three-month Apple Music trial. Rdio doesn’t share its subscriber numbers, but it’s safe to say its user base is a small fraction of those. Two years ago, terrestrial radio company Cumulus invested in Rdio with an eye toward bridging online and offline music. The idea was that Cumulus would promote Rdio on its 500-plus radio stations, and Rdio would help Cumulus develop a digital strategy. So far, Cumulus seemingly hasn’t done much besides sell advertising on Rdio’s free, ad-supported stations. But tomorrow the companies are getting hitched in a more meaningful way: you’ll be able to listen to Cumulus’ radio stations inside the Rdio app for Android and iOS. (The announcement was scheduled to go out Wednesday, but Rdio leaked it in their Android release notes.) Music, talk, and sports radio will all be found within the app.
