Rdio Launches First Ever Free, On-Demand Music Streaming - Without Ads

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 6, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Rdio, the digital music service created by the founders of Skype, today announced the launch of the first ever free, on-demand music offering with no ads. In a move that will redefine the digital music space, US users who sign up to Rdio on the web will now have access to full song streams for free while discovering and sharing music from a growing catalog of over 12 million songs. Only an email address or Facebook account is required to sign up and no software downloads or credit card information is needed to start instantly listening to music.

With Rdio's free access, now anyone can share free, on-demand music with their friends.  And with Rdio's full integration into Facebook's Open Graph platform, anyone on Facebook can instantly share and play any song in the News Feed, Ticker, or Timeline.

"We're proud to be the only service in the US to offer everyone the opportunity to listen to millions of songs for free, without the distraction of a single ad," said Drew Larner, CEO of Rdio. "With free access to Rdio, now everyone has the freedom to discover what our fans already know – we're the best service for listening to and discovering music."

Free access users can experience Rdio ad-free through their web browser, Rdio's native desktop apps for Mac & Windows and take full advantage of popular Rdio features including:

• Stream full songs on-demand
• See and hear what your friends and other influencers are listening to in real-time
• Share on Twitter and Facebook
• Create custom and collaborative playlists
• Build a personalized profile and digital music collection
• Get music recommendations based on your tastes
• Listen to artist and label radio stations

Free access users will see a customized meter at the top of their profile page indicating how much free music they have each month. At any time, they can choose to upgrade to one of Rdio's flexible subscription plans for unlimited music streams and Rdio's mobile apps. Plan options include:

• Rdio Web, $4.99 per month: unlimited access to millions of songs from a browser or desktop
• Rdio Unlimited, $9.99 per month: unlimited web streaming and unlimited mobile streaming on smartphones, iPad, Sonos and Roku, as well as wireless synching to listen offline
• Unlimited Family: 2 Unlimited subscriptions for $17.99 per month or 3 Unlimited subscriptions for $22.99 per month

New users can sign-up for free access immediately at www.rdio.com and through Rdio's mobile apps.

About Rdio

Rdio is the ground-breaking digital music service that is reinventing the way people discover, listen to, and share music. With on-demand access to over 12 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 an iPad or smartphone, 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 and Canada, 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.

SOURCE Rdio