It’s amazing to think of how much the digital streaming landscape has evolved over the past five years. We’ve seen brands rise to the top and become household names, watched major digital music players adjust and adapt, and witnessed at least one hugely star-studded roll out. In fact, even the overall streaming conversation among artists has changed – from indies to Taylor Swift and Thom Yorke.
In mid-November, it was announced that well-known interactive streaming platform Rdio was filing for bankruptcy and selling some of its key assets to Pandora. Rdio officially shut down on Tuesday, December 22, 2015. TuneCore initially partnered with Rdio in 2012, and we enjoyed providing our artists with access to Rdio’s dedicated audience of music fans over the years.
While evolution is inevitable in such a market, it might leave some artists scratching their heads. What does Rdio shutting down say about the future of music streaming?
If you sift through twelve months of any music industry blog’s articles (as I have…), you’re also reminded that 2015 has been a year of major streaming growth milestones: Apple launched its hotly-anticipated streaming service, Apple Music, quickly racking up 15 million users and 6.5 million paying subscribers; Google Play began offering competitive family payment plans to attract more users; YouTube announced the rollout of its YouTube Red premium subscription service; and Spotify hit 1 billion streams.
As some important questions remain to be answered, this growth has resulted in an increasingly positive attitude towards streaming from many independent artists.
While it’s always hard to say goodbye, we’re thrilled to be able to offer a variety of great ways for you to get your music heard and we look forward to a bright 2016 for TuneCore Artists.
We’ve provided an article in our robust TuneCore Knowledge Base about this announcement, which you can access here for more information. As the world of digital music streaming continues to change, you can stay tuned to the TuneCore Blog for all of the latest updates.
Tags: featuring internet radio music business music industry music news news pandora rdio streaming