While Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services allow premium users to download songs and play them offline (e.g. Sitting on a flight? Sorry, can’t get online radio. Therefore, users could not listen to their favorite songs. At the same time, until the launch of Pandora Premium in 2017, Pandora did not allow users to skip songs beyond 30 skips in 24 hrs. However, then came Spotify – allowing customers to listen to their favorite songs, whenever they want, as many times as they want. Want to listen to your favorite song? Please wait.įor the longest time, Pandora’s personalized radio channels, allowing consumers to discover new music, were a big hit and helped the company grow its user base. When Pandora went public in 2011 with a valuation of $2.6bn and a leading US market share in online music consumption, Spotify barely entered the US and was valued at $1bn, 2.6x less than Pandora at the time. However, over the last 5 years, Spotify and other music streaming companies have re-shaped the digital music industry significantly – Pandora’s Monthly Active User growth has declined and according to industry experts, Spotify will overtake Pandora in Monthly Active Users as early as mid-2020 (see below).īut what has happened that the clear incumbent leader is loosing its power? The below outlines the issues with the Pandora model:
#START PANDORA RADIO SERIES#
Pathways to a Just Digital Future Watch this tech inequality series featuring scholars, practitioners, & activists In 2017, the company launched Pandora Premium (see below an overview of Pandora’s offering).įor the years, the company was considered a shining star in the digital music space and continued to grow active users as well as revenues (see below). In 2009, the company launched Pandora One, a service that allowed users for $4.99 to stream the radio stations without ads. The company, therefore, had to pay royalties set by the US Copyright Royalty Board.
Pandora, unlike many other popular digital music streaming companies, did not strike deals directly with music labels, but instead operated as a pure play Internet Radio station. The service, known for its ease of use and the ability for users to vote for songs they liked and disliked through thumbs-up and thumbs-down, became extremely popular and one of the true rising stars of the early digital music industry. Launched in 2005 by Will Glaser, Jon Kraft and Tim Westergren, Pandora is a freemium online radio service.
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