Rdio has acquired music discovery service TastemakerX, according to a Pando report published today.
TastemakerX started as a streaming music service that sought to appeal to the inner music enthusiast (or music snob) in all of us by enticing people to share new music with friends via a gamification model. It later pivoted to focus on what people were sharing across all music services, including Spotify, Pandora, YouTube, and, yes, Rdio.
As part of the acquisition deal, TastemakerX founder Marc Ruxin will become Rdio’s new COO, while the entire seven-employee TastemakerX team will also join the company, Ruxin confirmed to VentureBeat.
While the company has yet to make a formal announcement about the acquisition, the move could have something to do with TastemakerX’s ability to collect data on how people listen to music. Earlier this year, Rdio decided to stop using The Echo Nest’s music data (recommendations, etc.) after Spotify acquired the service. TastemakerX could help fill the gap The Echo Nest has left.
That might be part of it, but Ruxin said he and his team will be focused more on finding a unique approach for sharing with the people you speak with often.
“We’re interested in finding a balance between algorithmic and person-to-person sharing,” Ruxin told VentureBeat. “Navigating a [music] discovery mechanism through people is super helpful, and it’s something we’ve always admired about Rdio.”
VentureBeat has reached out to Rdio for further comment about the acquisition. We’ll update this post with any new details we learn.
Developing.
TastemakerX is social gaming platform that allows users to build portfolios of personal tastes and share it to their social graph. The TastemakerX Music mobile app enables fans to discover artists, trends and inspiration; compete again... read more »
Rdio is the ground-breaking digital music service that is reinventing the way people discover, listen to, and share music. With on-demand access to over 12 million songs, Rdio connects people with music and makes it easy to search for ... read more »
