Rdio halves the price of music-streaming as competition grows and Apple Music rumours swirl

THE price of music streaming is falling in Australia, with one player cutting its subscription price in half as rumours swirl that Apple will weigh in soon.

THE music-streaming war is about to pay dividends for Australian listeners, with one provider halving the price of its subscription services to win more users.

Rdio, which launched in Australia in 2012, today began offering a $5.99 monthly subscription — half the price of its paid music-streaming subscription and that of market leader Spotify.

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The price-cutting move follows the Australian launch of Jay-Z’s Tidal music-streaming service in March, and comes as Apple is widely tipped to launch a Beats-based music service named Apple Music.

Making waves ... Deadmau5, Usher, Kanye West, and Jay-Z onstage at the Tidal relaunch event in New York on March 30. Picture: Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Rdio product senior vice-president Chris Becherer said the new limited subscription service would not let users download as many songs as they pleased to their smartphones, and was designed for listeners who were “not super hardcore music fans who want to download masses of songs”.

The Rdio Select subscriptions would instead allow users to download 25 songs to their smartphone, which could be changed daily, and ad-free streaming radio with unlimited song skipping.

Mr Becherer said the cheaper option better reflected listeners’ typical spending on music, though he admitted the move could see its own subscribers swap a $12 plan for a $6 plan.

Tunes to go ... Music-streaming subscriptions allow users to download music to their smartphones. Picture: Supplied.

“It’s possible there could be some cannibalisation from our (top) tier or from other (companies’) top tiers,” he said. “Our CEO often talks about airlines. When they added economy plus, it didn’t destroy business or economy class.”

Rdio’s price-cutting comes as music-streaming competition increases, with Jay-Z relaunching the Tidal service on March 30, and bringing its service to Australia, and Apple widely tipped to launch a new offering based on the Beats music service in the US.

The service is rumoured to be one of many products launched at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco on June 8.