Streaming Service Rara Announces Australian Expansion

Music streaming service rara, which launched in Australia earlier this year, last night announced global expansion plans that continue the self-proclaimed “aggressive growth” of the company.

The service was one of the first to launch in Australia and along with Rdio – who virtually launched at the exact same time – kicked off the streaming flurry that now includes the likes of Spotify, Deezer and MOG in the Australian market. As a result, rara went unnoticed by a lot of the market but they're hoping their recently announcement will attract consumer attention.

The announcement revealed plans for extended coverage across devices, particularly with the imminent Windows 8 launch and an upgraded Android app, launching into seven new territories including Mexico, Brazil and Portugal and increasing the library from ten million to 18 million tracks.

Rara's CEO Nick Massey told theMusic.com.au last week that, “We believe we've made a significant step forward here.”

Unlike Deezer – which recently received $130 in funding from Warner boss Len Blavatnik – Massey said that rara can sustain itself at the moment.

“We're adequately funded for our stage of growth now,” he said. “What you'll see is the same sort of aggressive growth.”

The company will also launch marketing campaigns in key markets – including Australia. They'll be targeting a listener who is, “A little less tech savvy and little less hardcore from a music perspective” and will benefit from the service's simple interface, lack of ads and hand-crafted playlists. They don't want to search for music, Massey said, they want it brought to them.

Massey also noted that Australia was an interesting market, give than 12 months ago consumers barely had one streaming service and the market is now saturated.

“We did notice that Australia seemed to be singled out by a lot of people,” he said. “It seems that the Australian market has characteristics that a lot of people favour.”