Rdio will likely not renew its business ties with The Echo Nest following Spotify's announcement last week of its plans to acquire the music intelligence platform.
Speaking with CNBC at SXSW, Rdio's Chief Executive Anthony Bay said, "As far as we are concerned, they were a good partner, but we have other good partners, and we'll move on. We will stop using that source of data and use other sources."
Instead, the music streaming site will be "transitioning away" from The Echo Nest, but not dropping them right away, a source knowledgeable with the arrangement said, confirming comments made by Rdio's Chief Executive Anthony Bay on Tuesday. Instead, Rdio will finish the contract, but not renew, the source verified. It's too early to say whether Rdio will turn to Gracenote or some other data service to help power its recommendations, the source said.