Pandora Radio Survives, But Is No Longer Free
By Morelli
Yesterday, Pandora founder Tim Westergren proclaimed on the Pandora Radio Blog that the service has stabilized its finances, and credited a recent agreement between artists, labels and webcasters to revise the US Copyright Royalty Board’s prices for online music streaming, ruled in 2007. On the downside, Pandora will no longer be free:
“The revised royalties are quite high – higher in fact than any other form of radio. As a consequence, we will have to make an adjustment that will affect about 10% of our users who are our heaviest listeners. Specifically, we are going to begin limiting listening to 40 hours per month on the free version of Pandora.”
What kind of adjustment? Westergren explains:
“In any given month, a listener who hits this limit can then opt for unlimited listening for the remainder of that month for just $0.99. In essence, we’re asking our heaviest users to put a dollar (well, almost a dollar) in the tip jar in any month in which they listen over 40 hours. We hope this is relatively painless and affordable–the same price as a single song download.”
It boils down to unlimited music for a dollar a month, and it only applies to those who listen for more than the stipulated forty hours. It seems like a fair price, and perhaps the most dedicated users won’t mind paying the equivalent of one iTunes song. The change in pricing also guarantees that the service will be able to continue to exist, and will certainly help the survival of all music streaming services.
How much do you use Pandora? Will you stop using Pandora now that it isn’t completely free?
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Wednesday, July 8, 2009 11:55PM
It's still a pretty great deal. 40 hours is a lot, and an extra 99 cents won't kill anyone. I feel like Pandora is doing everything they can here to keep their site accessible and friendly to customers.
Wednesday, July 8, 2009 11:57PM
I feel like it is still a pretty good deal. 40 hours is a lot, and 99 cents extra won't kill anyone. It seems like Pandora is doing everything they can to keep their site accessible and friendly to consumers.
Thursday, July 9, 2009 2:37PM
99 cents is very reasonable. If I go over 40 Hours I have no problem spending the extra money to support the company. Seems to me Pandora really cares about the users and not becoming a cash generator. Kudos!
Friday, July 17, 2009 8:50AM
I think it absolutly sucks, no more FREE INTERNET RADIO. I guess I will be listening to radio stations on the internet that dont charge. Very Very sad day, How am I to cope at work now. I know Radio Koz. Bye Bye Pandora
Sunday, July 26, 2009 2:44AM
Well it is either this or the demise of Pandora…
…And its not like Pandora has not done everything they can to keep it inexpensive
KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!!
Wednesday, August 5, 2009 11:17PM
I love how people complain about a dollar – mind you that's probably less than what they see on the ground and leave laying there in an average month. I'll support the folks down at Pandora for a dollar, and I'm a college student. Heck, if I can pay, just about anyone can.
Thanks, Pandora, for trying so hard to keep it free. A buck is worth the services – I love the music and the website's fantastic.
Sunday, October 4, 2009 10:26PM
Yes, che's complaint seems pretty unreasonable. 99 cents is, well, 99 cents, and for unlimited, algorithmically personalized music, I know of no better option than Pandora.
Monday, December 21, 2009 6:00AM
yeah, thats cool and i understand that they are doing what they can, but its just another dollar a month. Its not like we're going to just keep listening…cuz once that month is up we have to pay again.. I just don't think its worth the effort to put in my card number. Especially since regular radio is free and I don't like to think of it as ohh i have the rest of this month to listen to music all i want, time is ticking….
Monday, February 28, 2011 10:53AM
Nice.. So $11.88 for a year if you pay month to month…OR $36 for an entire year and you just dont have to worry about making a payment for an entire year. lol right on cool service though I would def pay the dollar if I had a bank acnt… : /