(by NT Balanarayan, Vikas SN & Nikhil Pahwa) Exclusive: US-based music streaming website Rdio has acquired Indian music streaming website Dhingana, Dhingana has confirmed to MediaNama. MediaNama had heard about the development from multiple industry sources. Sources also told MediaNama that the amount being offered to Dhingana is lower than the amount of funding they had raised. Dhingana had shut down its operations in February 2014 a couple of months after the biggest music label in India, T-Series, decided not to renew its contract with the company. In December, after reports that Dhingana might shut down, Bhatia had told MediaNama that the company was in the process of restructuring its operations. He had at that point had declined to comment on the possibility of a shut-down. Dhingana was backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, but had also raised funding from Helion Ventures and Inventus Capital prior to this. Also read: Want To Disrupt The Music Business In India? Here’s How What Rdio gets Above all, Rdio gets a team that knows how to deal with Indian labels and how much they charge for licensing. Remember that Dhingana had some issues with T-Series, which decided not to renew its contract, thus depriving it of content from one of the richest libraries of contemporary Indian music. Update: Dhingana has informed us that founders Snehal Shinde and Swapnil Shinde will be joining the Rdio team, where they will be responsible for Rdio’s expansion efforts in India as well as other emerging markets. Rdio India will be…
