With 78 million users, streaming’s original music service remains an online radio giant — but increasingly threatened by subscription blue chips like Spotify and Apple Music. Now, amid layoffs and acquisition rumors, co-founder/CEO Tim Westergren is about to launch an ambitious bid for subscribers of its own: “The other products out there are unsatisfying”
AS THE LIGHTS OF THE STRIP glimmer below, Pandora co-founder/ CEO Tim Westergren stands before two dozen advertising executives in a 61st-floor suite in the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. It’s the first day of 2017’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and he’s pitching Pandora’s new direction. “In my opinion, the other music subscription products out there are unsatisfying,” he says, referring to the on-demand streaming services the new Pandora Premium will begin competing with later in 2017. “They give you millions of songs, a search box and ‘good f—ing luck.’ ”
Clad in his usual uniform — button-down shirt, dad jeans, hiking sneakers — the 51-year-old Westergren proposes that the solution lies in Pandora’s Music Genome Project, which enables the service to recommend songs based on 450 characteristics, plus the data Pandora has collected on listener preferences. Those assets will power Pandora Premium when it launches before the end of March, as they do the service’s free radio and ad-free $4.99-a-month Pandora Plustiers.
Pandora rules the U.S. online radio market with a staggering 78 million monthly users, 4.3 million of whom pay for Pandora Plus, and brought in $1.2 billion in revenue in 2015. But it’s only now about to enter the bruisingly competitive on-demand subscription market dominated by Spotify and lately disrupted by Apple Music and Amazon’s Prime Music. The talk of 2017’s CES? Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service, the software that enables voice control on compatible devices — just as it allows Prime Music listeners to ask out loud for songs and playlists. And not long after the conference, Apple announced it would begin producing its own movies and shows exclusively for Apple Music subscribers, specifically to open up an advantage over Spotify.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
The Three Amigos
A rowdy trio raised together in North Atlanta, Migos cut a singularly now path to pop stardom: STEP 1 Launch a dance craze. STEP 2 Score a No. 1 with the help of a meme. STEP 3 Spend Grammy night partying with superfans Chance the Rapper and Chris Brown — as Billboard tags along. “I try not to be cocky,” says Takeoff, “but hey, we the shit, man”
California's Hero Of Cannabis Legalization
Lieutenant governor Gavin Newsom has rock star friends, his own clubs and a progressive agenda that got his state’s landmark Proposition 64 legislation passed — and the music industry rallying behind him
The Green Album
As vinyl sales hit a nearly 30-year high, Slightly Stoopid’s managers create a novelty that music-loving potheads could only dream of: an LP made entirely of hash
Simon Cowell, the Svengali's Second Act
From 1D to Fifth Harmony, the TV and music mogul owns pop culture. Now 56, he’s going in front of the camera again as he heads to America’s Got Talent, talks Harry Styles solo, plays with his 2-year-old son and reveals a certain sentimentality about American Idol: ‘I like to torture myself’
Twenty One Pilots on Their Musical Bromance and Fleeting Fame
Twenty One Pilots have blown up at top 40 radio, sold out massive arenas and even drawn the ire of millennial-bashing columnists with an unapologetic mashup of suburban angst, rap and reggae. But to Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun, all that matters is their bond - with each other and their (millennial) fans. “It probably seems like two good-looking guys making pop music. But really it’s just the opposite.”
Gone Girl
Camila Cabello Kicked Off Her Solo Career and Her Band Sisters in Fifth Harmony Unexpectedly Denounced Her for It. Now She’s Got a Top Five Single, a Much-anticipated Album Coming and Zero Second Thoughts: “you Have to Honor That Inner Voice”
The Rise And Fall And Rise Of Nicky Jam
Born in the USA, catapulted to teen fame in Puerto Rico and practically washed up by his 20s, Nicky Jam went to Medellín, Colombia — a city haunted by its drug kingpin past — to find sobriety, love and greater-than-ever success. Billboard spends 48 hours with the reggaetón superstar in his adopted home as he prepares for his wedding — and, oh yeah, scores a No. 1 Latin album
Fifth Harmony: Pretty Little Fighters
Girl groups were supposed to have been kaput when The X Factor threw together five ambitious teens with hard-knock childhoods. But as Fifth Harmony finally attains the upper reaches of the Hot 100, the tight-knit group finds itself “traumatized” by the strain of prepackaged fame, isolated from family and struggling to stay balanced. Now, they’re eager to assert their opinions on the industry, politics and Kanye West: “We finally have a damn voice.”
Jennifer Nettles: A Star Goes Back To Her Roots
Four years after Sugarland’s split, Jennifer Nettles is supporting Hillary and advocating for female artists (bro country be damned): “It’s in my blood”
Life's Been Good To Niall (So Far)
A year-and-a-half ago, Niall Horan was basking in the shrieks of One Direction superfans. Now, with the group in limbo and his mates making moves in everything from R&B to acting, “the cute one” is painstakingly crafting an album as a California rocker — and hanging with astronauts, Selena Gomez and (yes) the Eagles. All while staying truly hashtag-humble: “I’m a simple old soul, me”
