Rdio has finally found it’s CEO after a five-month search. Today the company announced that Anthony Bay, a former executive of Amazon, Microsoft, and Apple, will become the new CEO of the company. The tech veteran hopes to take Rdio to the next level in what they call “human powered music discovery”.
Bay’s resume includes leading Amazon’s video business, developing media tech at Microsoft and leading Apple’s Online Services. “Subscription music offers an exciting and compelling customer experience and value proposition,” said Bay in a statement, “and we are still in the very early days of this opportunity. There are well over one billion smartphone users with millions more joining every day, and our vision is for Rdio to become one of the ‘must have’ applications for any listener around the world.”
“Under Anthony’s leadership, Rdio will focus on building the world’s best free, ad-supported streaming service and dramatically growing our active, paying user base, globally,” said Rdio founder Janus Friis. “Anthony will also play a critical role in unlocking the value of our global terrestrial radio partnerships. I look forward to working closely with Anthony and continuing to invest in Rdio’s success.”
While Rdio doesn’t release subscriber numbers, it is believed to be trailing Spotify and that company’s 6 million paid subscribers. In late July, Rdio company touted its growth in Brazil, as well as its standing on the iTunes App Store.
The company has had a fairly busy year, launching a free Pandora-like radio service in North America and Australia, striking up a beneficial partnership with Cumulus Media, as well as partnering with Live Nation to power the company’s website audio streams, expanding into Asia and launching Vdio, an a-la-carte video streaming service open to Rdio subscribers.
