OAKLAND, Calif. (Pandora Media) -
Pandora Media today announced that it is adding a free ad-supported version of its breakthrough music discovery service.
Music lovers who want to find new songs and artists to enjoy will now be able to choose between this free service and the commercial-free, subscription-based version that has been attracting heavy usage since its launch two months ago.
Pandora is also significantly expanding the service with a number of new features, including personal pages where members of the
Pandora community can post their new music discoveries by bookmarking favorite songs; and a station editing console that makes it easier for
Pandora customers to refine their listening experiences.
Launched on August 29, 2005, Pandora is the first online music discovery service based on the Music Genome Project, the most thorough analysis of popular music ever undertaken. Music lovers need only enter the name of their favorite song or artist and Pandora does the rest - creating a tailored stream of songs that share key musical traits. Pandora subscribers can create up to 100 of these unique online radio stations and gradually refine them by providing feedback. With each input, the playlist changes immediately, as Pandora deepens its understanding of the listener's musical taste. In a mere two months, users have already created over a million stations on the service from over 70,000 different artist and song inputs. Discovery is a consistent theme in the experience as the Music Genome pulls from its deep collection of lesser-known artists. If a listener finds a new song or artist they love, they can click on it to buy it from Amazon or iTunes.
Starting today, Pandora listeners will also be able to create personal pages to bookmark and share their musical discoveries. In addition, a new special console will make it easy for them to edit and refine their Pandora-created radio stations.
"We're out to fundamentally change the experience of music discovery," said Tim Westergren, the one-time professional musician who founded Pandora five years ago. "Our subscriptions have far exceeded our expectations, but we've also heard from a great number of listeners encouraging us to offer an ad-supported version for free. We are thrilled to be able to offer music lovers this choice, along with greater control over their listening experiences and a way to share their musical discoveries with the Pandora community."
According to Westergren, today's announcement is a direct result of Pandora listeners' passion for music and for the service. "The willingness of listeners to take their time to give us feedback, suggest new features, help us fix things we're doing wrong, and just about bury us in great suggestions of favorite songs and artists for the Music Genome Project, has been nothing short of overwhelming. Since launching, we have been greatly energized by the support for what we're trying to do. Everything we're announcing today is just our best effort to keep up with the great input we've been receiving from these passionate music lovers."
