Rdio increases catalog to over 18 million songs; adds new partners TuneCore and CD Baby

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Rdio (www.rdio.com), the digital music service started by the creators of Skype, today announced two landmark music deals with CD Baby and TuneCore, the largest aggregators of independent music, bringing Rdio's catalog to over 18 million songs.

"We are excited to partner with TuneCore and CD Baby, two of the best distribution tools out there for independent artists," said Drew Larner, CEO of Rdio. "Independent music is a vital part of Rdio's catalog. We're glad to support hundreds of thousands of self-released artists by connecting their work to new music fans from all over the world."

CD Baby and TuneCore join a range of independent artist aggregators in working with Rdio including ONErpm, BFM Digital, Zimbalam, AWAL and Ditto, making it easier than ever for artists to get their music onto the service.

"This alliance is a wonderful fit given the two companies' focus on connecting musicians with fans and encouraging the exploration of the next great artistic expression," said Julian Groeger, Vice President, Marketing at TuneCore. "Rdio, with its strong focus on the social elements of music sharing and discovery, accessible via the web, mobile devices and even offline, is yet another exciting venue for our artists to reach new fans and promote their music globally."

"I am thrilled to see CD Baby team up with Rdio to make our artists' music accessible to their dedicated and growing subscriber-base," said Brian Felsen, president of CD Baby. "Their commitment to offering a cutting-edge service that skillfully blends social media and recommendation with an ad-free, subscription-based model and elegant interface has been refreshing to see. Our artists have consistently asked for Rdio to be added to our partner network, and we're confident this partnership will generate a great combination of exposure and revenue to support our independent musicians."

With Rdio, fans are constantly discovering new music through friends, people with similar musical tastes and even the artists themselves. Artists can share what they are listening to in real-time, bringing a deeper level of engagement to fans and tapping into Rdio's socially powered discovery features to promote themselves, their music and the music they love.

For more information or to sign up for Rdio, visit www.rdio.com.

About Rdio

Rdio is the groundbreaking digital music service that is reinventing the way people discover, listen to, and share music. With on-demand access to over 18 million songs, Rdio connects people with music and makes it easy to search for and instantly play any song, album, artist or playlist without ever hearing a single ad. Discover what friends, people with similar tastes, recording artists and more are listening to in real-time and share across Twitter and Facebook. Build a digital music collection that's available everywhere - on the web, in-home or in-car, on tablets or mobile phones, and even offline.

Launched in August 2010, Rdio is headquartered in San Francisco and was founded by Janus Friis, one of the creators of Skype. Currently available in the US, Canada, Brazil, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, Denmark, Great Britain, France, Sweden and Finland, Rdio is funded by Atomico, Janus Friis through his investment entities, Skype and Mangrove Capital Partners. For more information and to sign up, visit www.rdio.com.

About TuneCore
TuneCore distributes artists' music to iTunes, Google Play, eMusic, AmazonMP3, Deezer, Simfy and many other major download and streaming sites for a simple flat fee while taking no rights and no revenue from the sale of the music. Since its launch in 2006, TuneCore has more than 250,000 artist and label account holders, including TuneCore artists: Nine Inch Nails, Drake, Civil Wars, Sonic Youth, Beck, Lil' Wayne, Jay-Z, Aretha Franklin, Keith Richards, Blood On The Dance Floor, Public Enemy, Willie Nelson, They Might Be Giants, Donna Summer, MGM Studios, Bjork, Moby, Girl Talk, Brian Eno, and hundreds of thousands more.

TuneCore (http://www.tunecore.com) is the largest distributor and has one of the highest revenue-generating music catalogs in the world. In the past two years, TuneCore Artists have sold over 600 million units and generated over $300 million dollars in gross music sales and songwriter revenue.

In fall 2011, TuneCore launched its separate groundbreaking Global Songwriter Publishing Administration Service, providing any global songwriter publishing administration to register their copyrights, collect money that is rightfully theirs, protect and police their copyrights and songs, and issue licenses.

About CD Baby
CD Baby is the largest digital distributor of independent music in the world, distributing over 4 million tracks to major music retailers and streaming services. Over the last 12 years, CD Baby has paid their artists over $200 million, with checks going out weekly. From their Portland, OR headquarters, CD Baby warehouses and ships over 360,000 independent CD titles to a customer base that spans the entire globe. The company also offers other services to musicians such as the ability to accept credit cards at shows, web hosting through their sister company HostBaby, and eBook distribution through BookBaby.

SOURCE Rdio