Skip to main content

Rdio owed $220 million to creditors when it filed for bankruptcy 

A day after Pandora shook up the music streaming world by announcing it was buying “key assets” from the remains of on-demand streamer Rdio, we now know one reason why the Spotify and Apple Music competitor was forced into bankruptcy: It owes about $220 million to creditors, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Most of that debt is owed to Pulser Media, the company which provided the majority of the company’s financing since Rdio began in 2008. Other significant creditors include set-top box manufacturer Roku ($2.7 million), Sony Music ($2.4 million), online ticketer AXS Digital ($1.25 million), and Shazam (nearly $1.2 million). As The Hollywood Reporter points out, it owed Facebook (nearly $500,000, for ad placement) almost as much as it owed Warner Music Group ($613,000), and more than Universal Music Group ($294,000), and independent music distributor Merlin BV ($134,960).

Recommended Videos

The on-demand music streamer, which charged $10 per month for a subscription, made about $1.5 million monthly from this revenue source. In addition to about $100,000 in monthly advertising expenditures, it had $4 million in monthly operating expenses inclusive of the salaries of its 140 person staff, royalty payments to rights owners, and “service maintenance costs.”

While Rdio didn’t announce subscription figures, the above numbers mean the streamer had about 150,000 monthly subscribers. Spotify (75 million, and 20 million paid) and Apple Music’s (15 million, 6.5 million paid) subscription numbers, in comparison, make Rdio’s seem pretty paltry.

Rdio general counsel Elliot Peters made the streamer’s financial position pretty clear, stating to The Hollywood Reporter that the streamer “no longer has the economic means of funding such significant operating cash flow shortfall.”

Late last year, Rdio hired investment bank Moelis & Company to raise more financing “but ultimately realized it wouldn’t be possible,” according to The Hollywood Reporter.

As we reported yesterday, Pandora ended up spending $75 million to buy some of its assets contingent on the company’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.

“We are defining the next chapter of Pandora’s growth story,” said Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews in a statement. “Adding live music experiences through Ticketfly was a transformative step. Adding Rdio’s impressive technology and talented people will fast-track new dimensions and enhancements to our service. I couldn’t be more optimistic about Pandora’s future and the future of music.”

Chris Leo Palermino
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Chris Leo Palermino is a music, tech, business, and culture journalist based between New York and Boston. He also contributes…
How to download music from SoundCloud on desktop and mobile
Soundcloud Interface on a Macbook.

If you're a die-hard music fan, you probably keep a curated library of playlists packed with your favorite artists and albums on Spotify, Apple Music, or whatever your favorite music streaming app is. But how do you discover the best indie artists today? Some music-streaming platforms are better than others at celebrating the ‘unsung gem’ acts, but one of the most reliable forums for new, off-the-grid tunes is SoundCloud.

Founded in 2007, SoundCloud has always prioritized music that’s a bit under the radar. With over 320 million tracks in its library, the platform will even let you download a majority of its songs and albums.

Read more
The best kids headphones of 2025: for fun, safety, and sound
Two kids using the Puro Sound PuroQuiet Plus to watch something on a tablet.

Kid-friendly consumer tech is all the rage these days, so it’s no surprise that there’s an entire market of headphones designed exclusively for young ones. But when we think “kid-friendly,” sometimes we imagine products that are built to be a bit more throwaway than their adult counterparts. That’s not the case with the products on our list of the best headphones for kids, though.

We want our child-tailored headphones to include parental-controlled volume limiters, to ensure our children aren’t harming their eardrums. Pretty much every entry on our list checks this vital box, but we also wanted to point you and yours toward products that offer exceptional noise-canceling, built-in mics for phone and video calls, and long-lasting batteries for schooldays or a long flight.

Read more
How to master your equalizer settings for the perfect sound
An equalizer from eqMac.

While most people will simply flip on the radio or load up Spotify to listen to music, audiophiles like to dig a bit deeper and customize their experience. This often comes in the form of adjustments to the equalizer, which offers the freedom to tweak every aspect of the sound booming out of headphones or speakers. Even some streaming services now have built-in EQs, giving you more ways than ever to play with your music and find something that best fits your ears.

Tinkering with the equalizer can be daunting to newcomers, as there are tons of cryptic settings you can manipulate. And if you mess with the wrong one, your sound quality might take a nasty hit. Thankfully, learning the basics isn't too difficult.

Read more