Here’s the latest on the strategic partnership that Cumulus and Rdio announced earlier this year. They’ve begun rolling out the partnership with a combination of promotional spots on Cumulus stations and the activation of product pages within Rdio where listeners can hear the albums and songs played by their favorite Cumulus station any time. Examples can be seen at http://rdio.com/NASH, http://rdio.com/KQRS and http://rdio.com/EDGE.
The promotional spots on Cumulus stations informing listeners about Rdio’s unique on-demand Internet music service will air immediately on more than 70 stations, including all 60 Country format stations. These segments will roll out across all Cumulus stations in early 2014, when Rdio’s Internet service will also begin introducing curated programming featuring Cumulus on-air hosts.
The partnership provides Cumulus with a financial interest in the larger digital music ecosystem and allows Rdio to launch free, ad-supported products in the United States while accelerating the activation of new users and subscribers.
Cumulus has a significant equity stake in Pulser Media, Rdio’s parent, in exchange for exclusive content, media and on-air promotional commitments over a fiveyear period. In addition, Rdiowill leverage the Cumulus sales infrastructure to monetize its upcoming ad-supported free products, including music on-demand, custom playlists and exclusive content curated by Cumulus.
