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Shocker: Pandora's study finds Pandora to be good for music sales
In a study it conducted recently, Pandora found that its internet-based radio is actually a good thing for the industry. Not like it would say otherwise, we'd imagine, but Pandora states that the tunes it provides access to are spreading a "positive effect" on sales for music labels, both major and independent. "Now, via this study, we have clear proof of the 'Pandora Effect,' and its positive contribution to the music economy beyond just our royalty payments as the highest paying form of radio," Pandora's Vice President of Business Affairs, Chris Harrison, told Billboard. The study comes hot on the heels of the back-and-forth battle of words between Spotify and Taylor Swift, which began earlier this month when the artist pulled her entire catalog from the music-streaming service.
Daily Update for December 9, 2013
It's the TUAW Daily Update, your source for Apple news in a convenient audio format. You'll get all the top Apple stories of the day in three to five minutes for a quick review of what's happening in the Apple world. You can listen to today's Apple stories by clicking the inline player (requires Flash) or the non-Flash link below. To subscribe to the podcast for daily listening through iTunes, click here. No Flash? Click here to listen. Subscribe via RSS
Pandora Radio 5.1: Wake up to your favorite station
In the face of stiff competition from Apple's iTunes Radio and a variety of other streaming-radio services, Pandora Radio added some new features to its iOS app today. The best new feature? You can set song or artist stations as your alarm clock sound. If you've ever used the iOS Clock app to set an alarm, you know that in addition to a lot of standard alarm sounds, you can also choose a song from your music library as your wakeup cue. Unless you change that song every day, waking up can begin to seem like the movie Groundhog Day. Pandora's station alarm will provide you with a song from your favorite station, so you'll hear either a different song from your favorite artist or something from that same genre every day. Pandora thoughtfully provided a snooze button to the alarm screen as well. The updated app also gained a very iOS 7-like interface. Pandora fans should have the updated app on their iOS devices today.
Pandora will remove 40-hour mobile listening limit next month
There's nothing quite like a 180, and that's what Pandora plans to pull as next month rolls in. The outfit's 40-hour mobile listening limit, which was established back in February, will be history in September. The move was announced today by CFO Mike Herring, as he stated the following: "When we introduced the 40 hour mobile listening limit, we were confident that our scale -- over 7 percent of total radio listening and Pandora's number one ranking in most major markets -- would allow us to take this action without impacting our key monetization initiatives in driving the disruption of the radio advertising market and driving our mobile advertising leadership. As our results have shown, the continued strong growth in our advertising revenue allowed us to cover the increased royalty costs with dollars left over to invest back into the business. With these tools in hand, and insight into how they work, we are resetting our levers in September. Notably, Pandora plans to eliminate the blanket 40-hour-per-month limit on free mobile listening effective September 1st. In the 6 months since we first implemented the free mobile listening limitation, we have gained critical insights into our user population that has given us greater control of our business. Because of these insights Pandora has implemented both other surgical levers to control content cost and new features that will allow for greater product usage." It's not clear why the the reversal is being made -- be it uproar from loyal users or something else entirely -- but those who found themselves perturbed by such a notion will have plenty to celebrate in just a few days.
Pink Floyd says Pandora is trying to rip off musicians
As a music lover, you might say that we're living in the golden age of music discovery and accessibility. Many musicians, however, say it's a big problem. With iTunes, users can easily purchase and download songs from a selection of over 26 million titles. With Spotify, users can stream music on demand. With Pandora, users can customize their own internet radio stations to stream and discover songs based upon their distinct musical tastes. There are, of course, even more music services out there for us to enjoy. Indeed, Apple will be upping the ante this fall when it releases iTunes Radio, its own take on personalized internet radio. So while music lovers have never had it so good, a number of artists are complaining that they're not getting justly compensated from streaming sites like Spotify and Pandora. As an illustrative example, singer songwriter David Lowery recently penned a post where he writes that a song of his was streamed over 1 million times on Pandora, but only netted him US$16.89. Pandora, meanwhile, is actively campaigning Congress to lower the royalty rate used to measure the amount it owes to artists. As you might expect, this doesn't sit well with a lot of artists. This past weekend, band members from Pink Floyd penned an op-ed in the USA Today arguing that many artists are already getting ripped off by Pandora. We've heard Pandora complain it pays too much in royalties to make a profit. (Of course, we also watched Pandora raise $235 million in its IPO and double its listeners in the last two years.) But a business that exists to deliver music can't really complain that its biggest cost is music. You don't hear grocery stores complain they have to pay for the food they sell. Netflix pays more for movies than Pandora pays for music, but they aren't running to Congress for a bailout. Everyone deserves the right to be paid a fair market rate for their work, regardless of what their work entails. Pandora has historically done a great job of getting their point of view out into the blogosphere. That said, it's interesting to see a band as prominent as Pink Floyd take to the web and do the same. Overall, it's an interesting debate and, unfortunately, a complex problem to solve given the divergent interests of all the parties involved. The typical Pandora user wants to pay nothing. Meanwhile, Pandora wants to pay musicians less and musicians want to get paid more. Pink Floyd acknowledges that this isn't necessarily an easy nut to crack and urges for more constructive dialogue between all the parties involved. We're not saying that the music business is perfect or that there is no room to compromise. Artists would gladly work with Pandora to end AM/FM's radio exemption from paying any musician royalties – a loophole that hurts artists and digital radio alike. Other changes and compromises may be possible as well. The open letter to Pandora that we signed last year said, "Let's work this out as partners" and that's what we should do. But tricking artists into signing a confusing petition without explaining what they are really being asked to support only poisons the well. Is there a workable solution here that would keep users, Pandora and musicians happy?
Pandora Radio now fully live in Australia and New Zealand, complete with iOS and Android apps
Folks that call Australia and New Zealand home aren't exactly strangers to the internet-based radio goods Pandora has to offer -- however, these have been very limited to the public, with the tunes only being available on the desktop and on a trial basis. As of today, though, things are about to change for those living in Oz and Kiwiland, as Pandora announced via blog post that its new-era radio stations are now "fully live" in both countries, making this the first time the service has been available in its entirety outside of the US. Naturally, this means users in Australia and New Zealand can also start enjoying the Pandora Radio Android and iOS applications, both of which are up for download now from Google Play and the App Store, respectively.
Windows Phone 8 gets Pandora Radio, Cut the Rope, Urbanspoon and more (update: full list)
Microsoft knows that Windows Phone 8 is only as successful as its apps. To that end, it's blowing the doors open in terms of major app support. It's not only promising a Windows Phone version of Pandora Radio for early 2013, it's offering ad-free listening for the first year. How's that for strong out-of-the-box content? On top of this, Microsoft is vowing a slew of new apps and games that had previously only been available in the Android or iOS camps, including Asphalt 7, Cut the Rope, Temple Run, Urbanspoon and Where's My Water. By the time the expansion is done, Microsoft hopes to have 46 out of the 50 most popular apps onboard, making any platform switch that much gentler. Instagram is a notable omission -- still, it's a big leap in terms of equality. Update: If you need even more detail, Microsoft has posted a wider list of new apps as part of its official Windows Phone 8 launch post. If that's not enough, you can catch a video overview of the platform after the break. For more, check out our Windows Phone 8 event liveblog!
Sony unveils in-car receivers with App Remote, taps into your smartphone music from October
Sony has been big on smartphone integration for car audio lately, having already launched its MirrorLink receivers earlier in the year for the more well-heeled drivers among us. The company is bringing that mobile tie-in down to Earth through a new quartet of in-car CD receivers. The MEX-GS600BT, MEX-BT4100P, MEX-BT3100P and CDX-GS500R all bring in App Remote, which lets the faceplate buttons steer local music or Pandora streaming radio coming from Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Walkman devices paired through a Bluetooth wireless link. The old-fashioned USB connection is still on offer for these and the HD Radio-toting CDX-GT710HD, while the whole collection can graft on the optional SXV200V1 tuner to carry the full Sirius XM satellite radio lineup. Differences across the line aren't completely clear from Sony's wording, although both the MEX-GS600BT and CDX-GS500R carry two USB ports as well as 5-volt RCA preamp outputs. You'll be waiting awhile to slip any of these receivers into a DIN slot, regardless of which one you pick: the GS500R ships in October for $199, and the rest hit the shops in November for between $149 to $249. %Gallery-162517%
DirecTV and Pandora join forces, let you jam out via connected HD DVRs
It looks like DirecTV's got more than just college hoops on the brain: it's just announced a new hook up with Pandora. The newly minted agreement will let you access your favorite tunes via DirecTV's fresh 1080p guide on connected HD DVRs -- and, yes it's free. Additionally, you'll be able to search for artists, songs and browse through different genres, as well as set up jam stations to your liking. Those of you interested in blasting Boyz II Men playlists from your DVR, can do so by simply hitting that Menu button (on your oversized remote) and heading over to the Extras section where the musical goodies await you.
Pandora rolls out HTML5 redesign to everyone, drops 40 hour listening cap
Remember that Pandora redesign that we told you about, way back in July? Well, it's finally done testing, and is ready to bring its HTML5-based goodness to the Internet radio-loving masses. The revamp offers up a number of new features like improved socialization, easier station creation and additional information about artists, including lyrics, bios and larger album art. Coolest of all is the ditching of the 40 hour music listening limit for non-premium users -- a welcome change in light of similar announcements from MOG and Rdio.
