As streaming radio continues to evolve with the introduction of more competitors, like Apple iTunes Radio, the leader of Rdio is stepping down.
The chief executive officer of the on-demand music streaming service tells Bloomberg the company needs an executive with a different skill-set in order to compete with rivals like Google and Apple.
Rdio recently introduced a complementary streaming video service called Vdio and needs someone to expand its subscriptions into a broader base. “I’m a business guy and a deal guy,” says Rdio CEO Drew Larner. “The next stage of the company is about building an enormous user and subscription base, and there are people out there better at that than I am.”
Larner has been head of San Francisco-based Rdio since its inception in 2009. He’s leading the search for a new executive and plans to remain with the company as executive chairman, according to the account.
The executives who get the company off the ground aren’t always the best at growing the company into a mass-market product, he said.
Indeed, for a radio example, look to satellite radio. Those who initially formed the start-ups that eventually became known as Sirius Satellite Radio and XM Satellite Radio were not the same executives in charge as the companies grew and before they eventually merged.
