On the sad occasion of Rdio being shut down and its parts sold off to Pandora, I wrote about why it never was able to capitalize on the lead it had on Spotify in the United States.
In interviews with current and former employees, a picture emerges of a company that developed an excellent product but faltered when it came to marketing and distributing it. Early as it was to the United States, Rdio was born in the shadow of Spotify, a cunning and well-financed competitor that excelled at generating buzz — and using that buzz to acquire paid subscribers. As streaming music became a playground for giants, Rdio turned to a terrestrial radio company in a last-ditch effort to grow the user base. Ultimately, executives decided that Rdio’s only future lay in becoming part of an internet-based platform — even if it meant disassembling the service they had been building for more than five years.
Bonus content: Five things Spotify should steal from Rdio.