Rdio, the San Francisco-based music-streaming service, kicked off a major expansion move on Wednesday — by adding good, old-fashioned radio broadcasts to its offerings.
The move, which has the company streaming nearly 500 Cumulus stations from across the country, will help it better compete with larger rivals like Spotify, Pandora and Apple Music, the company said.
The stations include New York City’s WABC 770 AM, WPLJ 95.5 FM and NASH 94.7 FM.
Rdio’s new service will sound a lot like IHeartMedia’s popular mobile app — albeit with a rather nifty new feature, said Rdio Chief Executive Anthony Bay.
While listening to any song on the radio with their smartphones, users will be able to download a digital version and keep it as long as they pay Rdio’s $3.99- or $9.99-a-month fee.
Rdio is cutting deals to add hundreds more stations internationally over the next year, according to Bay.
“We’re really looking to be Switzerland when it comes to broadcasters,” Bay told The Post. “We’re starting with Cumulus, but will be looking at broadcasters all over the world.” Local ads typically will be replaced by national ads, Bay said.
Rdio’s music catalog of 35 million songs is currently available in 85 countries, but its base of paid subscribers is believed to be a fraction of Spotify’s total, which is more than 20 million.