-- New Documentary Film on Historic Supersonic Freefall with Never Seen Before Footage Will Be Released on One-Year Anniversary of the Jump and Includes Exclusive Original Song by "Portugal. The Man"
SAN FRANCISCO and SALZBURG, Austria, Sept. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Rdio, the groundbreaking digital music service with more than 20 million songs to discover, play and share, today announced that it has licensed a documentary film from Red Bull Media House called "Mission to the Edge of Space: The Inside Story Behind Red Bull Stratos." The new film will be exclusively available to stream for free on www.rdio.com/redbullstratos for three months beginning on October 14, 2013, which marks the one-year anniversary of Felix Baumgartner's supersonic freefall from 24 miles above earth. An original song written and recorded for the documentary by artists Portugal. The Man, titled "Oh Boy" is featured in the film trailer, end credits and available exclusively to stream on Rdio.
Produced, directed and distributed by Red Bull Media House, a global media company headquartered in Salzburg, Austria with offices in Santa Monica, California, "Mission to the Edge of Space" is an important content licensing agreement for Rdio, which hopes the partnership will raise awareness of its brand and build a loyal fan base for the Rdio platform. Red Bull Media House brings its global reach via a network of correspondents in 165 markets worldwide including the 31 Rdio territories in which the film will be available such as the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Brazil and Mexico, as well as in most European countries.
Red Bull Stratos was a scientific flight test program that saw Austrian athlete Felix Baumgartner become the first man to break the speed of sound with his own body from over 128,000 feet, accelerating to 843.6 miles per hour on October 14, 2012. Red Bull Stratos delivered valuable scientific data to enable safety for future aviators and astronauts. The project broke records in the sky, but also on the web with 8 million concurrent viewers tuning in on the day of the jump making it the most watched live event in Internet history.
One year after Red Bull Stratos, the historic moment can be experienced anew through this intriguing documentary. New behind the scenes stories and footage reveal undisclosed dramas which threatened to keep the project on the ground throughout its five year span including Felix's faceplate heating issue which nearly aborted the mission, and also personal interviews from the team looking back on the mission and the challenges they overcame. "Mission to the Edge of Space" will be compelling for both those who were captivated in the moment last October as well as those who may have missed it. To watch the full documentary on October 14, visitors can register with an email address for a free Rdio account at www.rdio.com/redbullstratos.
Just as Red Bull Stratos expanded human limits to the edge of space, Rdio is expanding the reach of music. Through the Rdio service, users discover what friends, people with similar tastes, recording artists and more are listening to in real-time with the ability to share across Twitter and Facebook. Users can build a digital music collection that is available everywhere – on the web, tablets, mobile phones even for use when offline. As part of the exclusive presentation of "Mission to the Edge of Space," users will be able to access custom playlists created by Felix Baumgartner and the scientists, engineers and medical team members from the Red Bull Stratos project.
Live Stream Event on October 14, 2013:
Felix Baumgartner and key members of the mission team including Col. Joe Kittinger, Art Thompson and Dr. Jonathan Clark will be a part of a live global webcast hosted by Rdio CEO, Drew Larner, on October 14 at 6 p.m. Central Europe Time / 12 p.m. EST / 9 a.m. PST. For the first time ever, Felix will walk viewers through a play-by-play of his 4 minute and 20 second freefall describing what he felt as he broke the sound barrier. The webcast will be live on www.rdio.com/redbullstratos, and questions from viewers across the globe can be submitted to the team via Twitter handle @RedBullStratos for consideration to be asked on-air. The film will go live immediately following the webcast on the same website.
Official trailer, the exclusive song "Oh Boy" and more information on the documentary and the live stream are available on rdio.com/redbullstratos.
About Rdio
Rdio is the groundbreaking digital music service that is reinventing the way people discover, listen to, and share music. With on-demand access to over 20 million songs, Rdio connects people with music and makes it easy to search for and instantly play any song, album, artist, or playlist without ever hearing a single ad. Discover what friends, people with similar tastes, recording artists, and more are listening to in real-time and share across Twitter and Facebook. Build a digital music collection that's available everywhere -- on the web, in-home or in-car, on tablets or mobile phones, and even offline.
Launched in August 2010, Rdio is headquartered in San Francisco and was founded by Janus Friis, the co-creator of Skype. Currently available in 31 countries, Rdio is funded by Janus Friis through his investment entities, Atomico, and Skype. For more information and to sign up, visit www.rdio.com.
About Red Bull Media House
Red Bull Media House is a global media company that produces, distributes and publishes authentic content and inspirational entertainment programming in the sports and lifestyle genres. From film to television, print to digital media, music and games, the company's products can be experienced on the latest devices and platforms, fascinating audiences worldwide. Among other projects, Red Bull Media House was responsible for the documentation and multi-platform distribution of the Red Bull Stratos mission, which held the world's attention in 2012 delivering the most watched live stream in history. For more information visit www.redbullmediahouse.com.
Free for editorial use, high-resolution photos and high definition footage from the Red Bull Stratos project can be downloaded in the Red Bull Content Poolat www.redbullstratosnewsroom.com.
