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Pandora launches a personalized station based on your likes
Pandora is putting to work what it knows about all of those songs you've thumbed up over the years. Today it's launching Thumbprint Radio, a "hyper-personalized" station that's based entirely on the songs you've liked. "This is a living, breathing station that will continue to change as you listen," the company said. "Each time you thumb up a track on Pandora, your station will update and evolve." The station is a mix of songs you already know and new tunes that Pandora thinks you might dig. Yes, it's pretty much another spin on Spotify's wildly success Discover Weekly feature, but it's hard to blame Spotify for going this route.
The second season of 'Serial' is here
Serial began life as an understated NPR show about an obscure murder case and quickly became the hottest podcast in the world. After almost a year of silence, Sarah Koenig is back with a brand-new run of episodes. This time around, the show will focus on the abduction of soldier Bowe Bergdahl in 2009 and his subsequent return as part of a prisoner exchange. At the time of publication, the sheer volume of demand for the first episode -- DUSTWUN -- has forced the Serial website to fall over. If, however, you're a Pandora subscriber you should be able to access it there thanks to an exclusive deal that was signed back in November.
Some Rdio staffers will lose their jobs during Pandora takeover
A few weeks back, we reported that Rdio's collapse was going to hurt Sony, Roku and Shazam -- companies that it still owed money to when it went under. Now, VentureBeat has discovered that 123 of the defunct firm's employees are going to be laid-off between now and the end of the year. The information comes from a WARN disclosure, a legal document that gives the state 60 days notice before a mass-firing, that the company posted to California's employment department. New owner Pandora, meanwhile, has said that it'll offer 100 jobs to Rdio's former employees, mostly in the product engineering and licensing teams. Update: This post has been updated to reflect that Pandora is not laying off Rdio's employees directly. Rdio has also provided the following statement."As is required by law, Rdio issued WARN notices of layoffs to all 123 employees in the United States. Pandora has announced plans to hire approximately 100 of our employees after the bankruptcy court approves the transaction and the deal closes, which means the majority of Rdio employees will continue having jobs."
Rdio will transition subscribers to free accounts after November 23rd
Following the news of Rdio's bankruptcy filing and sale to Pandora, the company offered some details on how its users can expect their streaming accounts to ride off into the sunset. Starting November 23rd, the service will no longer accept new customers and current subscribers can expect their accounts to be cancelled on the next billing date. When that happens, you'll still be able to listen to the free ad-supported version of Rdio until it shuts down completely, but the company hasn't given a specific date for that just yet. Rdio plans to let users export their data, including playlists and favorites before it's shuttered for good. The deal with Pandora is set to close in early 2016, and we'd surmise Rdio's brand of streaming will stick around in a limited form until then.
Too good to survive: The rise and fall of Rdio
Spotify is probably how most Americans were introduced to streaming music over the last four years or so -- the service has grown by leaps and bounds since it launched in the US in July of 2011. But a relatively small group of music fans were enjoying pretty much all that Spotify had to offer months before it hit the US. That group was using Rdio, and we'll now have to find a new option: Rdio will be dead soon, sold off to Pandora in a bankruptcy deal. The service will remain a cautionary tale about the brutality of survival in the streaming music world. A great product is important, but it's clearly not enough.
As Rdio files for bankruptcy, Pandora picks it up for $75 million
Pandora, already one of the biggest players in the music streaming space, has just announced it is acquiring "key assets" from fellow streaming service Rdio for $75 million. However, this isn't just a standard case of one company buying another -- Pandora's press release says the deal is contingent upon Rdio "seeking protection in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California." It sounds as if Rdio has finally run out of cash while trying to compete with giants like Spotify and Apple Music, and Pandora will be stepping in to use its technology to enhance its platform. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2016.
Serial season 2 will stream on Pandora 'exclusively'
Pandora will be the "exclusive streaming partner" for Serial season 2, which will reportedly focus on the disappearance of former prisoner of war Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the music streaming site announced today. Never mind that many podcasting apps allow you to stream shows without subscribing to them. This deal won't affect Serial's distribution in any other way -- you'll still be able to find it on iTunes or subscribe in your current podcasting app. While it might seem like a pretty weak exclusive, the deal will likely open up Serial to a whole new audience who probably aren't following podcast trends. The first season of the podcast will debut on Pandora on November 24. Given that discovery is one of the bigger issues for most podcasts, this arrangement with Pandora makes sense, even if it's not something most Serial fans will care about.
Pandora signs $90 million truce with the recording industry
Thanks to a quirk of copyright law, songs recorded before February 15th, 1972 weren't covered at the federal level. It's a loophole of sorts that Pandora, amongst others, has exploited to play classic pre-1972 tracks without paying a cent to the record labels. Or, at least, that was the case, since the firm has just signed a deal with the RIAA that'll see it pay $90 million to get the record industry to stop hassling it in the courts for unpaid royalties. It's the second big deal of its kind to land in the last few months, with Sirius XM paying $210 million in a similar deal back in June. It's probably not worth mentioning that the RIAA is scoring another own-goal, since services like Pandora are good for music sales, is it.
Pandora gives its iOS app the CarPlay treatment
As the number of CarPlay-compatible vehicles continues to grow, it's about time a few extra iOS apps made the jump to the dashboard. The latest to join Apple's in-car operating system is Pandora, which -- despite only mentioning some bug fixes in its release notes -- has quietly added support in its latest app update. The addition was spotted by 9to5Mac and, as you might expect, allows drivers to access their preferred music stations without touching their iPhone. Once you're happily streaming some tunes, you can also head back to the Now Playing screen and use the action menu to give individual tracks a thumbs up or thumbs down. Alongside Spotify, Rdio and iHeartRadio, there are plenty of ways now to get your music fix through CarPlay -- handy if you're itching to ditch Apple Music.
Pandora snatches up Ticketfly to become a one-stop shop for music
Pandora has been providing artists with tools to connect with fans and understand their audience for a while now, but the company is getting serious about event promotion, too. The internet radio service announced that it's purchasing Ticketfly, a company that offers ticketing and other marketing tools for live gigs. Ticketfly currently works with 1,200 venues and promoters to help folks like you and I find and purchase tickets to catch a live show. The acquisition means that Pandora will have a way for artists to sell tickets in addition to its AMP (Artist Marketing Platform) feature that provides audience info and Artist Audio Messages that help them directly connect with fans. It also recently purchased Next Big Sound to help with listener insights and trends. This deal for Ticketfly is worth around $450 million and it's said to be "a nearly equal mix" of cash and stock.
Recommended Reading: How Oculus took Netflix to the Gear VR
Recommended Reading highlights the best long-form writing on technology and more in print and on the web. Some weeks, you'll also find short reviews of books that we think are worth your time. We hope you enjoy the read. John Carmack on Developing the Netflix App for Oculus by John Carmack Netflix Tech Blog During this week's Oculus Connect 2 keynote, the virtual reality company announced that the upcoming Gear VR would include support for Netflix. What does is take to bring a streaming service inside the headset? Well, Oculus CTO John Carmack detailed the process on the Netflix Tech Blog.
Pandora's One Day Pass is 24-hours of ad-free listening for 99 cents
If you find yourself in need of 24-hour access to ad-free music streaming, Pandora now offers an option with its new One Day Pass. For 99 cents, you'll gain access to the Pandora you know and love without all of the distracting advertisements the free tier includes. This means that for under a dollar, you can switch over to the one-day option for times (dinner parties, etc.) when you'd rather not have tunes interrupted by the occasional marketing pitch. Pandora's One Day Pass will be available for listeners in the US Thursday, September 10th through the streaming service's Android and iOS apps.
Pandora buys analytics company to get more out of your streaming data
In order to serve up its song suggestions, Pandora collects listener data based on those thumbs up and thumbs down votes you tap in. The music streaming option announced today that it acquired Next Big Sound: an analytics company that will help turn that data into valuable marketing (read: ad) fuel. Next Big Sound offers the tools to properly break all of that user info down -- especially in regards to social media chatter -- for artists, labels and others. You may not have heard of Next Big Sound, but you may have seen its work: the company provides the stats for Billboard's charts, including the Social 50. Pandora already had its own tools for artists to examine user data, and now it joins the likes of Spotify and Apple by bringing in outside help to make its stockpile of info more useful. If you'll recall, Spotify swiped Echo Nest last year, a company that uses music analysis to power radio options for Rdio and others -- similar to Pandora's Music Genome Project.
Judge rules Pandora has to increase royalty payouts to BMI
Pandora's propensity for litigation is pretty storied by this point, but it seems like the internet-radio outfit's luck has run out. A New York judge has ruled that Pandora must raise its payout rates to Taylor Swift's music publishing house BMI, from 1.75 percent of its revenue to 2.5 percent, according to The New York Times. The full ruling is still being kept under wraps at the moment, but naturally, Pandora says it's going to appeal the decision. Given that an appeals judge recently ruled in the outfit's favor to keep royalty payout rates from rising, it isn't clear what could happen in this instance. For artists' sakes, let's hope that history doesn't repeat itself here. [Image credit: Getty Images for TS]
Beatport's dance music streaming service lands on iOS and Android
There are more music streaming apps than the world needs. But there hasn't really been a streamlined experience for electronic dance music listeners until now. Most of the popular apps -– Spotify, 8tracks and Pandora -– have a plethora of dance music tracks and amateur playlists to choose from, but they're not dedicated to the fist-thumping, bass-pounding needs of a dance music lover. Beatport, the go-to stream and download site for DJs and their fans, has finally stepped up its game with the launch of iOS and Android apps today. It's the latest service to join T-Mobile's Music Freedom program, which streams music without eating into your data plan.
Amazon's Echo lets you control iTunes, Pandora and Spotify with your voice
If you accepted an invitation to buy Amazon's Echo speaker, you've noticed that the device didn't have a vast musical vocabulary at first -- you could tell it to play iHeartRadio or Prime Music tunes, and that's about it. You'll have a better time of things from now on, though. Amazon is rolling out an update that lets you use your voice to steer iTunes, Pandora radio or Spotify on your mobile device. It's not super-sophisticated, but you no longer have to reach for your phone just to skip tracks. And in case millions more songs won't keep you entertained, there's also a "Simon says" command that you can use to prank people (or simply tell them something) from across the home. We'd argue that the biggest upgrade to the Echo would be getting to buy one, but these new features will do in a pinch.
Pandora app updated with a load of new features
Pandora has been around since 2008, one of the earliest apps offered for the iPhone. With millions of listeners in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand, the streaming music service has always been one the most popular music apps out there. After what seems an eternity, Pandora for iOS now has some significant feature updates. First off, Pandora has a new and more attractive user interface and design. There are animations and gesture-based movements that fit in well with iOS 8. There are new personalization controls, you can view songs you gave a "thumbs-up" rating to, and there's even a way to change your rating to "thumbs-down" if you decide it's not your favorite. Notification features have been enhanced in the new Pandora, telling you when new music has been added to the stations you've created. The app now, for the first time, supports the resolution of the new iPhones, including the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus Pandora has a lot of competition from services like Rdio, Spotify and iHeart Radio. Many people use the free Pandora service, and paying subscribers are only about five percent of total users as of last year. Free subscribers get a lot of ads. The new Pandora app is universal, and requires iOS 6 or later.
Bravo, you've opened Pandora's app on Xbox One
The Xbox One was originally announced as a console that would bring games, movies, television and other entertainment together in one place. Recently-instated head of Xbox Phil Spencer may be more about the "games" part of the equation, but that doesn't mean the console has stopped supporting its secondary functions. Case in point: This week, the Xbox One has received apps for Pandora, Vevo, Bravo, Telemundo and Popcornflix. If you're unfamiliar with any of the above, here's a quick rundown: Pandora is an online music service that creates playlists based on the input you give it. Enter "Aerosmith" for example, and you'll wind up with a station that plays classic rock. If you like to engage your eyeballs at the same time as your eardrums, Vevo hosts a collection of music videos to enjoy. Bravo Now is an app that lets you watch full episodes of Bravo programming such as The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce. The Telemundo Now app operates on the same concept: Log in with your service provider and watch full episodes of Telemundo novelas, shows and specials. Popcornflix is a free video streaming service that hosts hundreds of films at no additional cost. Enjoy your music and movies, señors and señoritas. [Image: Microsoft/Pandora]
Your Xbox One now plays Pandora radio and Vevo music videos
You haven't had many choices for streaming music on the Xbox One so far; you've largely been limited to Xbox Music or the occasional YouTube mix. You'll have some proper options very shortly, though. Apps for both Pandora's internet radio service (US-only) and Vevo's music videos (in 14 countries) are reaching the game console this week. The two apps don't have any surprising Xbox-specific features in store, but they'll definitely help if you need some tunes for your next house party. And don't worry, movie and TV fans -- you'll get a few apps as well. Bravo Now and Telemundo Now let American TV subscribers stream shows from those networks on demand, while Popcornflix gives North Americans "hundreds" of free movies. If your Xbox One doubles as your media center, you're in for a treat in the days ahead.
Grooveshark will launch an internet radio service in 2015
It's rare that you'll find a story about Grooveshark that doesn't include the phrases "copyright," "lawsuit" or "legally questionable." This may change in 2015, however, as it appears the company is about to turn over a new leaf and play nicely with music labels. The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the outfit is about to launch a Pandora-esque digital music station that will pay royalties for every song it pays. Currently known as Broadcasts, users will pay 99 cents a month for a service that, thankfully, runs without those dreaded commercials.
