Pandora is the grandaddy of streaming music, with more than 15 years in business and more monthly listeners using it to hear tunes than any anyone save for YouTube. But Pandora, a public company, has struggled to turn a profit, and seen it's user growth slow in recent years.
Today it announced that it will be acquiring "several key assets" from Rdio, which is filing for bankruptcy. The purchase price is $75 million and the acquisition includes technology and intellectual property. The announcement says "many employees" from Rdio will be offered the chance to work at Pandora, implying that at least some will be out of work.
The pairing would make a lot of sense. Pandora struggles in part because its royalty rates are set by the government, something that allowed it to avoid the high costs which have battered Spotify, but which have also kept it from easily expanding internationally or adding more complex features. Rdio could help it transition into a more modern and global streaming music service. Rdio in turn has been praised for its on demand service, but never gained the traction of its peers, especially in terms of paid subscribers.
Pandora is currently available only in the US, New Zealand, and Australia. Rdio, by contrast, has a presence in 100 countries.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/11/16/9...-parts-of-rdio
