Rdio
Rdio
Rdio was a digital music service provider that tried to reinvent the way people discover, listen to and share music.
Music
2008 – 2015
San Francisco, CA
Founded by Janus Friis, Niklas Zennstorm, and Carter Adamson
Raised $127.7M million in 6 rounds
Backed by 4 investors
Reasons for Failure
Was not as successful as competitors like Spotify when it came to marketing and distributing their service.
Rdio required a paid subscription while competitors offered free services with advertising built in. This attracted more users.
Talent retention. For example, Rdio did not have a dedicated marketing chief for more than a few months at a time.
Differentiating features were not differentiating enough, could have assessed priorities better.
Turned into a free service with advertising incorporation in 2013, but it was too late.
They were at the design forefront in the streaming services and had a high UX/UI user base. This unfortunately led them to focus more time on the smaller details that got in the way of the bigger picture.
Competitors
