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News

The Eagles Catalog Joins Rdio -- Then Disappears

By Glenn Peoples
5/9/2013
By Glenn Peoples
5/9/2013

The Eagles catalog became available for streaming at Rdio on Wednesday after being a longtime holdout from subscription services. No other subscription service in the U.S. had nabbed the Eagles catalog. A check at Deezer's U.K. site turned up no Eagles catalog.

But a few hours later, the group's catalog was no longer available for full-song streams at Rdio. A source indicated discussions with the band's management was behind the catalog's removal. An Rdio spokesperson had not responded to Billboard's request for comment at press time.

Ten Eagles albums -- seven studio albums and three compilations -- were available for streaming in their entirety at Rdio Wednesday evening -- with one exception. The live version of "Seven Bridges Road" on "Greatest Hits Volume 2" is only available as a 30-second preview. The 15 songs on "The Eagles Live" are also limited to 30-second clips.

Artists Mentioned

Garth Brooks

Kid Rock

The addition of the Eagles catalog to Rdio lacked the fanfare associated with the arrival of a heritage or popular artist at a subscription service. Metallica's arrival at Spotify in November garnered a great deal of publicity (and a press conference). Kid Rock got some attention when he joined Rhapsody back in 2008 and more attention when he finally joined iTunes in November. Even Led Zeppelin's possible arrival at a subscription service has got press attention.

The Eagles have a perennially popular catalog. Its "Greatest Hits '71-75" sold 58,000 albums and 477,000 tracks in the U.S. in 2012, according to Nielsen SoundScan. "Greatest Hits Vol. 2" sold 36,000 albums and 540,000 tracks last year. Its songs are popular on YouTube as well. For example, a video of "Hotel California" from the group's "Hell Freezes Over" tour has 34.8 million views in just over one year. A lyric video for "Hotel California" has amassed 11 million views in two years.

Although there are occasional, short-lived streaming holdouts -- new releases made available first to retail -- not many entire catalogs are holdouts in the streaming world. The Beatles is the most notable group not available at subscription services. Led Zeppelin, Garth Brooks, AC/DC and Tool are other notable artists not yet available at subscription services. It appears the Eagles are now back on that list.

By Glenn Peoples
5/9/2013

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