Aupeo

In 2008, Aupeo established itself as a music streaming company and offered a personalized radio service called AUPEO! Personal Radio. Aupeo relied on its technology to enable listeners to develop a personalized radio stream either by selecting a genre of music, an existing station with a pre-defined theme, or by typing in the name of an artist. The AUPEO! Personal Radio recommendation system functioned by using an automated classification system that is subsequently verified by members of staff. In collaboration with the Fraunhofer Society, Aupeo developed an algorithm which allowed the service to quickly identify certain musical qualities, automatically assigning genre classification. These classifications were then reviewed and refined by Aupeo members of staff.

Over the years, Aupeo teamed up with several leading manufacturers from the Mobile, PC, Connected TV/STB and Home Entertainment industry such as Loewe, Philips, Asus, Acer, Nokia, Onkyo, TechniSat and Sonos.

Aupeo's technology rapidly attracted the interest of the automotive industry and thus, in 2010, the company brought the AUPEO! service into Mini vehicles Aupeo quickly expanded its platform availability to several car partners such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Toyota, Ford, Audi, Volkswagen and Jaguar and Land Rover. In April 2013, the company was acquired by Panasonic Corporation of America and attempted to pivot towards providing entertainment and infotainment services in vehicles under the leadership of Detroit-based British executive David Taylor.

Aupeo was a wholly owned subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation of North America. The service was funded by advertising, mainly in the form of audio advertising and banner advertisements. Alternatively, Aupeo also offered the possibility for users to subscribe to a ‘Premium’ service for 4.99 USD/EUR per month. ‘Premium’ user accounts had no advertising. In ‘Premium’ accounts, the audio quality was increased to 192 kbit/s and the limit of 'skips' (the ability for users to skip through songs that are being played) raised up to 10 times per hour and 50 times per day.

Legal Status

Aupeo! was not an on-demand streaming service but fell under the international webcasting agreement created by the IFPI. In accordance with these requirements, Aupeo were able to provide its services in more than 60 countries.

Royalties were distributed to artists and labels through external performing rights organizations, including GEMA in Germany and the BMI in the United States.