Pandora, the US online radio platform, has today made a significant play for the streaming market with the launch of a new Premium service, as it looks to go head to head with the like of Spotify and Apple Music.
The new Pandora Premium platform offers users the ability to search and play any track or album on-demand, while a set of playlist features tailored to the user’s preferences is also incorporated within the service, which will cost $9.99 per month.
The My Music section of the app brings together every station and playlist the user has created, as well as all albums and songs collected. There is also a My Thumbs Up playlist, which is essentially a collection of every song the user has liked or ‘thumbed up’.
Meanwhile, the Pandora Music Genome Project builds playlists based on just a few songs selected by the user. By creating a playlist with just a handful of songs, the service will then gradually build up the playlists itself with additional songs of that mood, style or genre.
As with most other streaming services, Pandora Premium also has its own discovery service, providing an album of recommendations based on the user’s listening.
“Every day tens of millions of people trust us to choose the exact right songs for them. That’s why they spend more time with Pandora than any other music service,” said Tim Westergren, founder and CEO of Pandora. “With Premium, we’re leveraging our immense trove of data and everything we’ve learned about personalization to offer a listening experience that sets a new standard for what a music service should be.”
Invites for a free trial will be rolled out to select listeners on March 15, with an option to upgrade set to be made available to all listeners over the coming weeks.
