January 2013 - Rdio Blog

Events Music

Snoop Dogg Shares His Picks for the Big Game

Few artists have as much passion for the sport of football as Snoop Dogg. His youth football league in Southern California continues to set a national example for sportsmanship and excellence. Coach Snoop is always prepped for a game — especially the upcoming match between the Ravens and Niners if his Super Bowl mix is any indication.

The playlist is a strong collection of songs that includes fighting anthems by New Orleans rappers like Master P, Juvenile, and Skip as well as Bay Area-bred players such as Too $hort, E-40, and Clyde Carson. Of course, the Doggfather himself ends up in a few places in the “mixx,” as does halftime star Beyoncé. Touchdown!

Follow Snoop Dogg AKA Snoop Lion on Rdio for more awesome playlists from this champion music player.

∞ January 31, 2013 — 10:00AM

Developer App

Developer App: Boil the Frog

This month’s Developer App is like Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon for music. Boil the Frog builds a track-by-track connection from one artist to another based on musical style.

Boil the Frog lets you move from Mickey Mouse to deadmau5, swing from Kanye West to Taylor Swift, and jump from Justin Bieber to Jimi Hendrix almost seamlessly.

Simply enter the names of two artists and Boil the Frog will generate a playlist, letting you know the number of songs needed for the gradual shift. Click the first song to listen to the entire playlist or any album cover to play the individual song. If you don’t care for a particular track or artist, the “New Track” button will replace the song while “Bypass” will create a whole new playlist. To save the mix onto Rdio, click “Save this playlist.”

With the help of The Echo Nest, Paul Lamere created an artist similarity graph that finds the path between two artists for Boil the Frog. Playlists are then built by following the path with the most popular artists and the most popular song from that artist.

Want to learn more about the Rdio API? Visit Rdio’s Developer page, register for an API key, and start building. Feel free to check out our sample code and libraries on Github and join our API Google Group. Need more incentive? You can even earn some cash via the Rdio Affiliate Program.

∞ January 30, 2013 — 9:00AM

Exclusives

Hear Boats’ A Fairway Full of Miners One Week Early on Rdio

The always-impressive Pacific Northwest record label Kill Rock Stars is getting ready to drop the new Boats album A Fairway Full of Miners. It’s the third and latest effort from the Winnipeg, Canada-based indie rock group fronted by distinctively high-pitched singer Mat Klachefsky. Although the new release is remarkably more mature than past albums, members of Boats don’t take themselves too seriously, even describing their own sound as “a string of unrelated concepts disguised as coherent thought.”

A Fairway Full of Miners will be out on February 5, but why wait until then when you can hear it a week early? Hit play below to hear this exclusive preview.

∞ January 29, 2013 — 1:00PM

Music New Music Weekly

New Music Tuesday - January 29, 2013

Some people like to say TGIF and celebrate the end of the work week, but we must say that Tuesday is our favorite day. That’s when all the glorious new music is released each week!

No matter what beat you like to rock to, you should be able to find something interesting in this week’s offerings, whether it’s the latest from San Francisco’s alt-folk duo Thao & The Get Down Stay Down, an album from suddenly-famous Atlanta rapper Trinidad James, the first album in three years from L.A. indie rockers Radar Bros., or the guilty pleasure of pop prince Justin Bieber, unplugged.

Our New Music Tuesday playlist will give you the sonic lowdown on what’s happening right now. Peep the Playlist Notes below as you read for more highlights from this week, and stop by Rdio New Releases for even more music overload.

PLAYLIST NOTES

Tegan And Sara - Heartthrob
The twins are back! Tegan and Sara Quin documented this seventh album with a series of videos called “Carpool Confessions.”
Hatebreed - The Divinity of Purpose
The Connecticut-based hardcore band drops a mosh-inducing album this week. This one may call for a pair of earplugs for maximum shredding.
Destiny’s Child - Love Songs
Are you ready for this jelly? In advance of their rumored reunion performance at the Super Bowl, this compilation collects up the girl group’s most romantic songs of all time and includes “Nuclear,” the first new DC song since 2005.
Local Natives - Hummingbird
The indie rockers formerly known as Cavil at Rest have emerged with their sophomore album, recorded in their own brand new studio.
The Saturdays - Chasing The Saturdays
Admit it, you’ve already fallen in love with this English-Irish girl group from their reality show on E! This EP, released in North America only, collects their UK singles.
Ben Harper, Charlie Musselwhite - Get Up!
Bluesy singer-songwriter Ben Harper makes sweet music with harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite on this record that was ten years in the making.

∞ January 29, 2013 — 10:00AM

Exclusives

Ra Ra Riot Shares Exclusive Commentary on Beta Love With Rdio

Ra Ra Riot’s new album Beta Love may be a bit of a shock to fans used to the band’s indie rock and baroque pop hybrid. This third album from the New York-based quintet reveals a genuine fondness for more electronically-driven synth pop. Now, you can listen below to hear Beta Love with exclusive commentary from Ra Ra Riot to learn more about this stylistic shift.

If you fell head over heels for Beta Love, then this will be sure to put a smile on your face — bassist Mathieu Santos recently created a playlist of songs that have been bringing him happiness lately.

Follow Ra Ra Riot on Rdio for more from Santos and the rest of the band.

∞ January 29, 2013 — 9:00AM

New Features News

Free Access to Rdio Goes International

Now it’s even easier to discover new music with artists and friends around the world. Starting today, we’re extending free music on the Web to 15 countries.

If you’re a new Rdio listener, you can now sign up at rdio.com, and enjoy up to six months of free music, depending on how many songs you stream. Free streaming is available through the Web or Rdio’s desktop apps for Mac and Windows and no credit card is needed to start listening. A meter at the top of your profile page will keep you updated on how much free music you have remaining each month and at any time you can upgrade to Rdio Web, Rdio Unlimited, or our Family Plan to stream unlimited music.

Free access is available in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.

∞ January 29, 2013 — 5:00AM

Giveaways

Score Two Tickets to the GRAMMY®s With A Champion’s Playlist

The GRAMMY Awards®, held this year at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on February 10th, is the one true sport enjoyed by the music business every year. So it only makes sense that the GRAMMY®s would collaborate with leading athletes to get their favorite music picks in advance of the “big game.”

Top athletes have teamed with The Recording Academy® to create motivating playlists featuring GRAMMY®-winning recordings exclusively for Rdio. New York Mets player Ike Davis, UFC competitor Frankie Edgar, Olympic synchronized swimmer Tracy Little, Philadelphia 76ers’ Jason Richardson, and Super Bowl-bound San Francisco 49ers’ Aldon Smith have each created “A Champion's Playlist.” They’ve picked GRAMMY®-winning songs from the past 50 years in order to give you an idea of what they’re hearing in their headphones before they take home a championship.

Each athlete will present their playlist to their Twitter followers. The athlete whose playlist receives the most votes between now and February 1 will choose a winner at random to win a trip for two to attend the 55th Annual GRAMMY Awards®. Get the full contest details on the GRAMMY®s blog and be sure to keep track of the scoreboard.

Follow the GRAMMY®s on Rdio for more fun playlists featuring all-time scoring tunes.

∞ January 28, 2013 — 1:00PM

Music

NPR Picks The Best Albums of 2012

We asked the music lovers at NPR Music for their top albums of the year knowing that these are some of the most open minds and ears in the business. Their 2012 playlists showcase an impressively diverse range of new and seasoned artists alike.

NPR Music editor Stephen Thompson swooned to the likes of Best Coast and Spiritualized, and Robin Hilton of “All Songs Considered” touted Kishi Bashi and Hospitality. Hilton’s co-host Bob Boilen favored albums by Cat Power and Sharon Van Etten in 2012, while NPR Music pop critic Ann Powers heralded the return of Fiona Apple and Sinead O’Connor. And (almost) everyone chose Frank Ocean as a favorite.

Start with Thompson's playlist below, and follow NPR Music on Rdio for even more recommendations.

∞ January 24, 2013 — 11:00AM

Exclusives

BLack on BLonde: Rapper K-Os Reveals All, Only on Rdio

Kevin Brereton, better known as K-Os, has been representing the Toronto rap scene as a rhymer, singer, songwriter, and producer since way before Drake starred on Degrassi. He has traveled the world and released five albums of positive messages over a 20-year career, including the latest effort BLack on BLonde, which features guest appearances by Black Thought of The Roots, Travie McCoy, and fellow Canadian rapper Saukrates.

Listen to K-Os’ BLack on BLonde a week before its official release with Rdio-only bonus commentary to discover the inspiration behind the songs as revealed by the man himself.

∞ January 23, 2013 — 10:00AM

Music New Music Weekly

New Music Tuesday - January 22, 2013

January continues to bring a bumper crop of colorful songs and albums to the fertile new music landscape. Fans can witness the vibrant growth in the sophomore albums from indie rockers Foxygen and Widowspeak, The War On Drugs’ Dave Hartley’s Nightlands project, and New York house producer FaltyDL. And open-minded listeners can discover the seedlings of new talents in the debut from Atlanta’s The Shadowboxers.

Our New Music Tuesday playlist has something for everyone. Read the Playlist Notes below after pressing play for some additional highlights, and visit the Rdio New Releases for this week’s complete collection of fresh produce.

PLAYLIST NOTES

Toro Y Moi - Anything In Return
Producer Chazwick Bundick moved to Berkeley two years ago, where he wrote this third album. The sound represents the freedom he felt in his new home.
Bad Religion - True North
The seminal California punk band’s sweet 16th album was produced by the band’s guitarist Brett Gurewitz and Joe Barresi, who has worked on records by Tool, The Melvins, L7, and more. True to theme, True North features 16 songs in total.
FIDLAR - FIDLAR
L.A.’s favorite slacking “wake bake skate” band is finally releasing their debut album.
Otep - Hydra
This is thought to be the nu metal band’s final album. If so, Otep is going out with a huge bang on its sixth studio effort.
Ra Ra Riot - Beta Love
The third album from the New York quintet, now minus its cellist, reveals a marked new interest in synth pop.
Lil Wayne - “Love Me” (Feat. Drake & Future)
Weezy’s new single featuring his protege and Atlanta’s up-and-comer demonstrates that sensitive thugs need love, too.

∞ January 22, 2013 — 10:00AM