5 ms·

It's hard to see this as anything other than someone choosing to go out at the top.

by ajg1977 14y ago

rhizome 14y ago
That's one way of looking at it. Another is that there's about to be a big fight over royalties to the labels with Apple entering with a huge salvo today[1], and Pandora likely needs a new face in order to join the battle differently than they had in the past. In other words, "circumstances dictate." 1. http://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/07/apple-reportedly-offering-half-of-pandoras-royalty-rate-for-streaming-music-service/ http://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/07/apple-reportedly-offerin...
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  Here's an article on the amount Spotify pays for streams to indie artists. There's obviously a lot of hands out for pieces of the pie. http://www.spotidj.com/spotifyroyalties.htm http://www.spotidj.com/spotifyroyalties.htm
  - Erwin 14y ago
    Interesting. If that's not enough royalties, Spotify is charging too little. According to last.fm (who can record all track plays from Spotify), I've played 10672 tracks over the last 4 months ($55 in royalties at the 0.0052/stream rate), but paid $61.9 to Spotify for their highest premium subscription in the same time.
  - rhizome 14y ago
    Pandora pays CRB rates, Spotify negotiates direct licenses with labels. They both pay out over half of their total revenues, which of course is unsustainable. Pretty much all music services are surviving off of capital infusions while keeping the price point for subscriptions palatable to the consumer. Eventually we'll see some of them pinched out of existence, unless Apple's muscle has an effect.
hyperbovine 14y ago
In Pandora at the top? Spotify seems to strictly surpass them in all dimensions.
socalnate1 14y ago
Yea, that isn't it at all. Pandora has been on the brink of bankruptcy for years. This is a new start to try and make the business work by figuring out their licensing cost structure.

5 ms·

It's hard to see this as anything other than someone choosing to go out at the top.

by ajg1977 14y ago

It's hard to see this as anything other than someone choosing to go out at the top.

rhizome 14y ago
That's one way of looking at it. Another is that there's about to be a big fight over royalties to the labels with Apple entering with a huge salvo today[1], and Pandora likely needs a new face in order to join the battle differently than they had in the past. In other words, "circumstances dictate." 1. http://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/07/apple-reportedly-offering-half-of-pandoras-royalty-rate-for-streaming-music-service/ http://www.macrumors.com/2013/03/07/apple-reportedly-offerin...
- waterlesscloud 14y ago
  Here's an article on the amount Spotify pays for streams to indie artists. There's obviously a lot of hands out for pieces of the pie. http://www.spotidj.com/spotifyroyalties.htm http://www.spotidj.com/spotifyroyalties.htm
  - Erwin 14y ago
    Interesting. If that's not enough royalties, Spotify is charging too little. According to last.fm (who can record all track plays from Spotify), I've played 10672 tracks over the last 4 months ($55 in royalties at the 0.0052/stream rate), but paid $61.9 to Spotify for their highest premium subscription in the same time.
  - rhizome 14y ago
    Pandora pays CRB rates, Spotify negotiates direct licenses with labels. They both pay out over half of their total revenues, which of course is unsustainable. Pretty much all music services are surviving off of capital infusions while keeping the price point for subscriptions palatable to the consumer. Eventually we'll see some of them pinched out of existence, unless Apple's muscle has an effect.
hyperbovine 14y ago
In Pandora at the top? Spotify seems to strictly surpass them in all dimensions.
socalnate1 14y ago
Yea, that isn't it at all. Pandora has been on the brink of bankruptcy for years. This is a new start to try and make the business work by figuring out their licensing cost structure.