No More Free Unlimited Streaming for Pandora Mobile

[exfileme]

Pandora is cutting your mobile streaming time down to 40 hours per month thanks to increasing royalties demanded by record labels.

No More Free Unlimited Streaming for Pandora Mobile : Read more

 

[fyend]

So they want people to switch to Spotify is what they're saying.

 

[bnot]

I keep waiting for someone to create a business model that deals directly with the musicians and writers and does not need a record company at all.

 

[Onus]

I'd like to see channels created using music from bands that specifically publish royalty-free, for example live bands who want people to hear their stuff so they'll come see them in concert.

 

[kawininjazx]

Royalties are a pain in the ass, my Sirius bill keeps going up because of this and my wife only listens to one station.

 

[rooseveltdon]

iheartradio and spotify will replace Pandora in a year.

 

[festerovic]

one thing (IME) that Pandora has going for it, is that their mobile app works better than competitors. I used to use Slacker, but they could never get the bugs out of the app, and so I cancelled.
"Continuously hiking royalty fees only compounds the piracy issue, not help it." - totally agree. If the biggest, most popular music source in the world has near everything for free (bittorrent...) increasing the gap between pay and free is not a good idea.

 

[zubikov]

Pandora is forced to pay $0.10 for every song that you hear. So if you skip through three songs, you just cost them $0.30. They fought tooth and nail to get lower royalties, and their competitors with different models and millions in lobbying pay way less (Sirius XM for one). Think about it, you pay 99c and you own the song, or Pandora pays 10c and you listen to it once, if that. It's really not fair to them, they got screwed. With this cost structure in mind, it's amazing that a year's subscription ONLY costs $36.

Also, this change effects 4% of their listening public. So the author should chill when he says "limitless fountain of music would dry up to a mere trickle", because there's a good chance you're not affected.

 

[ddpruitt]

He recently told The Heritage Foundation that Pandora and similar business are struggling against "discriminatory" laws that force them to pay higher royalties

Amazing how he leaves out the fact that the laws favor Pandora. Last time I checked the numbers Pandora pays less than half what satellite, terrestrial radio, and TV stations pay.

I listen to Pandora all the time (pretty sure I'd hit the cap after a week or so) but they need a more sustainable business model. I'd be all for a way for a way to cut out the record labels and pay artists directly, that's were the money should go. I don't feel like paying to have some 10 year old listen to yet another Justin Beiber song.

 

[technicalbass]

Shoutcast has an app for iPhone, not sure about android. Unlimited free streaming radio stations. Not as nifty as Pandora for listening to individual artists and tracks but it's great for specific music genres.

 

[brandonjclark]

40 hours is quite a lot.

 

[halcyon]

I donated to Pandora with a 1 year subscription to Pandora One. I say donated because with the variety I've heard on the stations I've selected/made it should be very very free IMO. At least there's no ads but I'm not impressed so far.

 

[LightningStryk17]

They have had the 40 hour rule for at least a year.... I ran into once before I subscribed. Which was almost 2 years ago.

I don't understand.....

 

[RADIO_ACTIVE]

[citation][nom]mikehoncho67[/nom]They forgot option 4: Jailbreak your iphone and hack pandora to have unlimited skips and no commercials with no caps on anything.[/citation]
Or don't buy an overpriced Apple piece of crap and rooooot.... Silly sheep tricks r 4 kidos

 

[jigawatt]

I'll hit that 40 hour limit in a week, and I guarantee it.

 

[jerrspud]

I'm old so I use Live365 still ;-)

 

[thecolorblue]

"Of course, there will be Pandora users who hit that 40-hour-per-month cap. To keep the music flowing, users can (1) listen to an unlimited stream from their PC or Mac, (2) pay a mere $0.99 for the remainder of the month, or (3) subscribe to Pandora One for unlimited listening and no advertising at $3.99 per month."

or 4) unsubscribe, save yourself 50 bucks a year and listen to an actual radio station or... gasp... load a thousand or so music files onto your phones harddrive, then reduce your monthly phone plan to a lower tier and save an additional $300 a year.

 

[jigawatt]

[citation][nom]thecolorblue[/nom]"Of course, there will be Pandora users who hit that 40-hour-per-month cap. To keep the music flowing, users can (1) listen to an unlimited stream from their PC or Mac, (2) pay a mere $0.99 for the remainder of the month, or (3) subscribe to Pandora One for unlimited listening and no advertising at $3.99 per month."or 4) unsubscribe, save yourself 50 bucks a year and listen to an actual radio station or... gasp... load a thousand or so music files onto your phones harddrive, then reduce your monthly phone plan to a lower tier and save an additional $300 a year.[/citation]

Or continue to utilize my unlimited data at the same price that most pay for 2GB of data (the bare minimum tier, and I currently pay less than that tier for unlimited) and enjoy hearing music that I don't already have but is similar to my likings... because radio stations don't play metal!

 

[-Jackson]

So am I the only one who doesn't care for music streaming services?
I'm sorry, but I prefer owning something more tangible (my music, in this case) than something digital..

 

[tobalaz]

Wait, I thought this was covered with all the f&&&ing commercials we had to listen to!
Well that and Pandora shutting itself off after so long.