Rdio Introduces New Way for Artists to Make Money from Streaming Music

Artists will earn revenue from online fan engagement through Rdio Artist Program

TORONTO, Oct. 2, 2012 /CNW/ - Rdio (www.rdio.com), the digital music service founded by Janus Friis, one of the creators of Skype, today announced the launch of the Rdio Artist Program. This first of a kind program offers a new way for artists to directly earn money from streaming music.

Using Rdio, artists can easily share their own music and their music recommendations with fans. Fans will be able to instantly listen along with their favourite artists directly on the service and via Twitter, Facebook or other online properties.  Artists will earn 10 USD for each new subscriber they attract to Rdio through social sharing - effectively rewarding them for fan engagement.

"There is no art without artists," said Rdio's founder Janus Friis. "As part of this industry, we know a business that doesn't reward its most important contributors is a business that has to change. The innovation of the Internet should not be a barrier to the success of music artists; it should allow them to be even more successful."

"All sorts of talented and innovative artists have found an audience for their music online," said Drew Larner, CEO of Rdio, "But it's incredibly hard to make a living doing it. The Artist Program offers artists a way to supplement their existing revenue streams by doing what they do naturally - connecting with fans. We're aligning our focus on social music discovery with our fundamental belief that artists deserve to get paid for their work. We view it as a significant step forward for artists, fans and streaming music."

The Rdio Artist Program is active in all 14 countries where Rdio is available and any artist with an existing artist page is eligible to join. This program complements the licensing deals Rdio already has in place with labels and distributors for access to music on the service, adding an additional direct revenue channel to artists and providing a new element of transparency around the streaming music model.

International recording artists Scissor Sisters, Snoop Dogg aka Snoop Lion, A-Trak, Chromeo and Brendan Benson - already fans of Rdio - are among the first artists to join the program.

"Up-and-coming artists are the future - they're the lifeblood of the industry," said Snoop Dogg. "I love that any new artist can take advantage of this program. I'm a fan of Rdio already and it's cool to see them supporting artists like this."

"I love Rdio. My wife and I use it all the time at home and on tour," said musician Brendan Benson, co-founder of Readymade Records and member of The Raconteurs. "I like that Rdio is giving back to musicians by compensating them directly through the Artist Program. It's really great that they are helping out the people who create music and I look forward to seeing how it evolves."

Participating artists will receive access to a web-based tool to manage their Artist Program account. Benefits include:

• 10 USD for every new subscriber brought to the service (for at least one month)
  
• Real-time referral stats on visitors and subscribers
  
• Rdio artist page customization options
  
• Tools for trackable link creation and embeddable players for any Rdio music content
  
• Access to tips, help documentation and Rdio support

The Rdio Artist Program represents Rdio's commitment to supporting the artist community and the music industry as a whole. Working together with artists, labels and fans, Rdio strives to create a sustaining and engaging model that benefits everyone involved. For more information and to join the program, visit www.rdio.com/artistprogram.

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, Finland and Norway, Rdio is funded by Janus Friis through his investment entities, Atomico, Skype and Mangrove Capital Partners. For more information and to sign up, visit www.rdio.com.              

SOURCE: Rdio

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