Founded in December 2011, rara is a music streaming service offering some 26 million tracks Ad-free from punk to classical. Matthew Beecham spoke to CEO Jez Bell about how this business is shaping up and what distinguishes it from the crowd.
What is rara?
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rara is a global music streaming service that provides its users with unlimited access to a world of music. On rara you can search and play all your favourite music on-demand from a global music catalogue of over 26 million tracks, or sit back and enjoy channels, charts and playlists expertly curated by our international team of DJs. Intuitive and easy-to-use apps deliver the music to users in 32 countries on your PC or mac and via iOS, Android, Windows 8 devices, as well as through our pioneering new service, BMW Online Entertainment with rara.
What is BMW Online Entertainment with rara?
BMW Online Entertainment with rara was Europe’s first in-car fully on-demand streaming service, available as an optional extra in virtually all new BMW cars. It is the first service of its kind as you don’t need to plug in a smartphone, USB or dongle; music is streamed directly to the car through an embedded SIM in the car’s head unit. The service is available across Europe, in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands. Included in the annual subscription fee is an unlimited data package from Vodafone meaning rara BMW users can stream unlimited music across these six European countries without incurring any bill shock.
BMW Online Entertainment with rara is pioneering the next generation in automotive digital music entertainment services by providing a fully integrated and connected automotive service. Up to now, listening to digital music in your car has been a fairly clunky experience requiring other devices. The first generation of music services in the car saw us use wired or wireless connections though a tape deck, radio frequency or Bluetooth. The second generation of automotive entertainment services have revolved around platform integrations and plugging in your smartphone to enable connectivity. BMW Online Entertainment is in the third and new generation of fully integrated digital music services in your car which are enabling drivers to choose from millions of songs safely whilst driving without the distraction of having to fiddle around with plugged in devices.
Who are you targeting?
Music streaming is no longer consumed by predominantly male, young, early adopters; there is a vast majority of consumers, who are not tech geeks or music gurus, who are looking for a faster and easier way to access the music they love. rara seeks to cater for this majority of consumers by employing intuitive, simple user interfaces to access the world’s music, tailoring the user experience to get the best out of each device.
What is rara’s market potential and what has your consumer research told you?
The potential is huge. Whilst industry figures show that there is strong and accelerating growth in streaming music subscribers and that in purchasing terms there has been a strong migration from CD to digital music with digital music revenues estimated to eclipse CD by 2015 (IFPI Digital Music Report, 2013), the reality is still that we are in the early stages of the potential market for streaming music, given hundreds of millions around the world bought CD’s and only low tens of millions are currently paying for subscription services. The key to bridging this gap is to capture the mass market, i.e. the majority of consumers who are yet to discover streaming music, and this is where rara’s strategy lies. Our consumer research has shown that the two places that the late adopting majority of consumers typically listen to music most in the car and in the living room, and so this is where we will target our service.
The music streaming market is already crowded, isn’t it? What is your USP? How does rara differ from, say, Spotify?
Our competitor music services have to date really targeted the young, tech-savvy, music aficionados who know exactly what music they want, with much of the focus on mobile. We are positioning rara to target the greater number of consumers who have yet to adopt digital music. rara’s easy to use apps deliver the music you feel like listening to, without having to know the name of every track. In addition, the companies that rara has chosen to partner with – including BMW, Lenovo, HP and Toshiba – have created channels to reach those consumers.
Not everyone has fast broadband or high usage limits. Does that help or hinder your product offering?
With rara you can choose whether you want to play and store tracks on your device in standard or high quality, so we provide users with choice that fits their circumstance. On mobile devices, tracks are stored after play, so when you are caught offline or in a place where it’s prohibitive to stream music, you can still play the music you want from your collection in the service.
We understand that rara is being offered to BMW drivers through its ConnectedDrive Online Entertainment pack. What’s your pricing structure and what else does that give the driver? And what is the take rate so far?
The remainder of this interview is available on just-auto’s QUBE Global light vehicle OE connectivity market- forecasts to 2030
