Internet radio giant Pandora has now announced plans to further its fingerprint in streaming, with a new own on-demand music streaming service much like Spotify, Apple Music and Tidal.
The Wall Street Journal has announced that it will in fact be a tiered service, much like all other services, with free and premium services available. The new Pandora One is a $5 a month version of the app, which offers an ad free version of the classic Pandora radio, and possibly some new features too. The on-demand capabilities will be available for $10 per month, a completely new service which allows users to play whatever they want, whenever they want.
This on-demand service is a huge change in their current operations. At the moment, Pandora has not needed permission from record labels or copyright owners because it runs as a radio station rather than as an on-demand application. “We’ve been working hard to bring an expanded listening experience to listeners and are on track to do so later this year,” a Pandora spokesperson told Forbes Magazine.
With Pandora losing around 80 million listeners in the past year, could this be the change that they so desperately need? Personally, I don’t think so. People are turning to these major streaming sites not only because of their catalogues or prices, but because of their brand, culture, exclusives and artist partnerships. Kanye West and Tidal, Drake and Apple Music, those partnerships work. Not to mention all the other incentives those companies have, the exclusives, curated music playlists, high definition streaming, the incredible Beats 1 Radio.
Can Pandora really offer something so new and enticing to the streaming market that users will leave Apple, Spotify and Tidal?
Only time will tell.
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