Rdio will be changing the way it offers listeners music, by not using The Echo Nest in the future, the company has revealed. Following the purchase of the music intelligence company by Spotify, Rdio is keen to not help its chief competition by providing it with more data about its user’s listening habits, instead relying on other methods to offer music discovery and curation.
Speaking to CNBC, Rdio CEO Anthony Bay confirmed the break-up, claiming “As far as we are concerned, they were a good partner, but we have other good partners, and we’ll move on.” The change will not hamper the service, Bay advises, stating “We, probably like most people, have multiple sources of data that we use. So we will stop using that source of data and use other sources.”
Spotify acquired The Echo Nest last week for an undisclosed sum. While the purchase provides Spotify with increased access to The Echo Nest’s knowledge base, Spotify claimed the company will continue to operate independently, and will continue to offer its API to third-party developers, including its competitors, for playlist management and other services.
In the interview, Bay touched upon the mobile market as a possible key to expansion in the future. “The primary thing people use to listen to music is becoming more and more their smartphones,” advised Bay, claiming listening to music being the fourth most important activity people perform with their devices.
