Photo: press
Online music streaming service Rdio, which has been available in the UK since 2012, has been bought out by US rival Pandora for $75 million, with the US company looking to challenge Apple Music, Spotify and others in an increasingly competitive market.
Rdio offered a free ad-supported service, as well as paid subscriptions, for both desktop and mobile, and had a catalogue of 35 million-plus songs available to its users.
However, the company set up by Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis filed for bankruptcy on 16 November this year, and has now announced the sale of certain intellectual property to Pandora Radio for $75 million in cash.
Pandora aims to use its new acquisition to "expand" the service it offers users by late 2016. Hopefully, this will see the service re-enter the UK market, although this is unlikely.
In an email to Rdio's subscriber base, which spans 85 countries, the company said: "As part of the acquisition, the Rdio service will be shutting down worldwide on 22 December 2015 at approximately 5pm PST."
Until that time, subscribers can use the new Farewell feature to review their song history and export their personal data, including any playlists, favourites and comments.
In a statement issued back in November, Rdio said it is "proud to have created an innovative and critically acclaimed global music streaming service."
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