2015 may be the year of titanic streaming battles in the US, but some of the most interesting growth for streaming music this year will come from other parts of the world.
Rdio is making some smart moves on that front: shortly after launching in India following its Dhingana acquisition, now the company has a deal to roll out in 31 Caribbean, central American and Pacific island markets.
Its partner is telco Digicel, whose customers in the 31 countries – 24 of which Rdio wasn’t previously available in – will get 30 minutes’ data-free usage of Rdio’s free radio tier every day. “Expect us to continue to focus on expanding markets this year. There’s a lot of opportunity globally, in a lot of territories like these that are not well served,” Rdio boss Anthony Bay told the Financial Times. Digicel will sell ads for Rdio in the new markets too, to help it scale.
Apple v Spotify v Google/YouTube may hog headlines this year, but the move for under-served markets by other pureplay streaming music services is an important trend too: whether it’s Deezer going after audiophiles (through its Bose and Sonos partnerships) and lower-income smartphone owners (through its Muve Music acquisition and Cricket Wireless partnership) in the US, or Rdio’s push into emerging markets around the world.
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