[cr-india] Rdio scouting for radio partnerships as it seeks to expand India presence

Mon Aug 24 16:28:25 CDT 2015

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brdcrmb-arrow]  Rdio scouting for radio partnerships as it seeks to expand
India presence...
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Writer: Abhinn Shreshtha
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- Thursday, Aug 13,2015 8:13 AM
<http://www.exchange4media.com/radio/rdio-scouting-for-radio-partnerships-as-it-seeks-to-expand-india-presence_61232.html#>
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*Tags: *Digital
<http://www.exchange4media.com/news/TagSearch.aspx?searchvalue=Digital> |
Rdio <http://www.exchange4media.com/news/TagSearch.aspx?searchvalue=Rdio> |
Vdio <http://www.exchange4media.com/news/TagSearch.aspx?searchvalue=Vdio> |
Gaana <http://www.exchange4media.com/news/TagSearch.aspx?searchvalue=Gaana>
| Saavn
<http://www.exchange4media.com/news/TagSearch.aspx?searchvalue=Saavn> | Scott
Bagby
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| Shamik Talukder
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| Radio
<http://www.exchange4media.com/news/TagSearch.aspx?searchvalue=Radio> | Abhinn
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Rdio scouting for radio partnerships as it seeks to expand India presence
[image: Rdio scouting for radio partnerships as it seeks to expand India
presence]

“We are going to have a lot of alliances and partnerships with Indian
companies in the next one year,” admitted Rdio’s India Country Head, Shamik
Talukdar, when we asked him what the focus area for the company was for the
coming months. Talukdar was in Mumbai along with Rdio’s International
President Scott Bagby, ahead of the team’s impending shift to the city from
Pune, where they are currently based.

The San Francisco based digital music streaming provider had entered the
Indian market earlier this year post their March 2014 acquisition of online
streaming service Dhingana.

“Music is a very personal thing. Music tastes are different all over the
country. Even before Dhingana, we have been looking for the right partner
to work with here in India. In January 2014, we discussed with Dhingana
different ways of partnership and it just made sense to acquire them, get
the team and use their expertise here to make Rdio as local as popular,”
informed Bagby.

More than six months later, the company is now seeking to stamp its
authority in India, a country it sees as among the top 5 geographies for it
(Bagby informed us that the Indian Rdio team is the largest outside of the
US).

But it is just not about music, says Bagby. “It does not make sense to be a
‘me too’,” he said. Internationally, Rdio has ties with media companies and
uses their expertise to create ‘curated’ stations.

Curated stations are something that Rdio feels will be the differentiator
for the operator in India. These are playlists that are either determined
algorithmically, based on listening patterns, much as YouTube
<http://www.exchange4media.com/company/news/YouTube> does for videos. They
can also be created by individuals, which are then suggested to users
according to their listening preferences.

Going a step ahead, recently, Rdio recently tied up with the second largest
operator of FM and AM radio in the US; Cumulus, to deliver its radio
content for Rdio users. Partnerships like these are something that Rdio
wants to explore in India too.

“We are definitely looking for partnerships (with radio operators). The
good thing about radio partnerships; we have done these in US, Brazil and
Canada, and you will see it in other countries in the future too. If you
see radio content; it is not just music but also things like interviews
with personalities, local news, sports updates, even comedy skits. But at
the core, one of the key things they do is program music and let other
people discover music. From this they earn their advertising revenue, so we
see a lot of synergies with radio stations,” said Bagby.

However, he insisted that streaming music can never replace FM radio. “What
you will see is a lot of things that radio cannot do and that is make
content available on-demand,” he said. The company is also going to be
looking at other alliances with partners in various segments like retail,
telecom, media, etc. to expand its presence in the country and reach out to
consumers.

Rdio depends on two business models for revenue— an ad-supported free
version and a subscription-based model. However, Scott Bagby, International
President for Rdio, is quick to point out that Rdio does not see it as
heavily dependent on advertisements for revenue.

One thing that Rdio is banking on in India is a hybrid model called Rdio
Select, which combines the benefits of both. It is a model that has only
been introduced in three countries prior to India; the US, Canada and
Australia.

In India, Rdio will be priced at Rs 99 per month for the full subscription
model and Rs 60 per month for Radio Select. The prices are definitely
competitive if you compare Gaana, which is priced at Rs 170 per month.

Speaking of another service that Rdio had launched and then shut down in
2013; its pay-per-view platform Vdio, Bagby said that there were no
immediate plans to relaunch Vdio. “One of the things you mentioned at the
start were the challenges in obtaining licenses from music labels, there
are equal challenges with studios. The restrictions that were put on us
with the licenses were prohibiting innovation. We could not provide the
product that we wanted.”

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