A leading radio-music subscription service in the United States, Pandora Media Inc (NYSE:P), is on the move to launch a subscription on demand service to par with similar services from Spotify and Apple Inc’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) Apple Music by September. The company is looking forward to collaborating with three major music labels that could make the company’s dream of providing the on-demand service by next month.With the company having acquired the assets and quite a considerable number of staff, it is apparent the company is going for the on-demand subscription service.
With on-demand music services by Spotify and Apple giving their users the chance to choose any track from their music library, which in some instances is limited, streamers such as Pandora and iHeartMedia Inc’s (OTCMKTS:IHRT) iHeartRadio allow their users to play any track as long as they pay the requisite licensing fee. To achieve the task in offering alternative on-demand service, Pandora will now need to work closely with major record labels as Sony Music Group, Warner Music Group and others to remain relevant in their pursuit to offer their user the opportunity to choose music directly.
On-demand music is speculated to cost $10 monthly with a library of large amounts of tracks. The company is reportedly on a bid to advance its services on ad-free radio tier to let their subscribers skip more tracks as well as cache music offline. Although the ad-based tier will still be there, Pandora is said to be considering other possible options for advertisers. The company is still stands tall in online music with about eighty million listeners and is believed to share a substantial number of Spotify and Apple Music listeners too. The only limiting factor to the company is the stiff competition it is facing and the limited reach. “Pandora’s long-term future hangs on the on-demand product that remains sight unseen, so we find it difficult to weigh its prospects with its numerous competitors already in-market,” Credit Sussie analyst Stephen Ju said.
There have been speculations that Liberty Media Group (NASDAQ:LMCA), which owns most of satellite radio serviceswas eyeing to acquire Pandora, although the said speculations have calmed down.
