Rdio expands into 24 new countries

A week after launching in India, US-based music streaming and internet radio company Rdio has gone live in 24 new international markets in Caribbean, Central America and Asia Pacific. This brings the total of its theatre of operations to 85 countries and territories.

The latest to get the service’s 32 million songs are Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica, Fiji, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Nauru, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, St Kitts & Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, Suriname, Tonga, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos and Vanuatu.

As part of the move, it has partnered with international mobile phone network provider Digicel, which is owned by Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien. In addition to the new 24, the Digicel deal is effective in French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Martinique, Bonaire, El Salvador and Panama.

Digicel will serve as Rdio’s sales and marketing arm in each region. It will also customize playlists to include local tracks. The partnership will also go on to develop and launch a pay structure that will fit the mobile usage behavior of Digicel’s 14 million users. This will, Rdio says, introduce “a robust new economy to recorded music across these markets.”

In the coming weeks, Digicel will offer all prepaid data customers 30 minutes of free Rdio Internet radio listening per day on their mobile phones without accruing data usage charges.

“Launching Rdio in each of these markets is a huge milestone for the company,” said CEO Anthony Bay. “We are excited to bring the vibrant music of these regions onto Rdio for the world to hear while also providing users in each new market access to international artists. Digicel will be instrumental in shaping the streaming experience locally and we look forward to a continued fruitful partnership with them.”

Unlike its larger rivals, Rdio has not disclosed its subscription or user numbers. These are thought to be smaller than Spotify’s 60 million subscribers and 15 million users, Pandora’s 76.5 million active listeners and Deezer’s 16 million active monthly users.

More than half of Rdio’s users are outside the United States, which remains its largest market. (Australia is its fifth largest market). Rdio will be focusing on expanding further into developing markets. These are places where smartphone use is growing rapidly. Many of these areas are also rife with music piracy. A team up with local telecom companies and using their mobile phone payment plans is clearly an effective way to expand.

Streaming and subscription music services are rapidly growing. According to the Financial Times, global revenues for these passed US$1 billion for the first time in 2013. In the same year, total digital revenue – including downloads and Pandora/ YouTube services – hit $5.9 billion.