6-29-14
In an interview with the Associated Press about Cumulus' digital play Rdio, Cumulus CEO Lew Dickey says Clear Channel's iHeartRadio, where Cumulus' stations are streamed, is Rdio's biggest competitor, not Pandora. "It's Clear Channel. It's not Pandora. The digital services -- which is why we put our toe in the water and took a stake in Rdio -- we believe the digital services are increasingly going to play a role in the business. Dickey says there will only be a handful of survivors at the end of the day. "I believe the digital music space today is very nascent. I liken it to the MySpace phase of social. I don't think it's clear who the winners are going to be."
Dickey also told AP business writer Ryan Nakashima that the listening numbers Pandora reports may not be what everyone believes they are. "Pandora self-measures. So they're, in essence, quoting their own numbers and they're using disparate data sources. They've been very clever in terms of the story they've told, but the actual numbers would tell a different story when held under close scrutiny."
As far as revenue goes, Dickey says over-the-air is still where the majority of their money is coming from. "You've got a a business that is predominantly traditional radio right now. Rdio isn't a revenue generator yet. We will be selling all of the ads from Rdio. That will be new media at that point. That's the way to think about this. We've got a business that's growing, we've got a business that's generating an enormous amount of cash, and we're positioning this business for the long run."
Read the full interview with Lew Dickey HERE
(6/30/2014 10:57:08 AM)
This is a funny article! Considering Dickey's track record with what he did with the major market Citadel stations, I certainly would not be too optimistic about Rdio...
(6/30/2014 7:47:07 AM)
I have rdio and love it, but I wouldn't consider iHeart or Pandora competitors. Spotify is the competitor. It worries me that Lew thinks it's iHeart, which leads me to believe he's going to move it to more of a curated streaming service rather than a $10/month on demand music library. I hate streaming services. When I work out there are specific songs I like and need to pick my own tunes.
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