Pandora should stop whining and start selling
The most used service on my iPhone by a mile is Pandora (http://www.pandora.com/). It is an intelligent - no, brilliant! - music streaming service that delivers songs similar to a song or artist I name, not just broad or vague genres like other stations, determined by 400 distinct characteristics and judged by trained music analysts. It is absolutely amazing.
Yet, their ground-breaking service may be shuttered by royalty rates (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/15/AR2008081503367.html) that are outrageously disproportionate compared to those of conventional radio. The folks at Pandora have cried foul and many have joined them. I agree, but I also have to ask, why aren't you pushing more ads on me?
I listen to Pandora all day on a device I must occasionally look at. Shoot me a commercial jingle every twenty minutes. Roll a banner ad over that album art. Send me a sponsored email once or twice a week. I'm locked in. Show me some ads
I understand you want to protect the integrity of the service, but a banner above the album art won't ruin my listening experience. Doesn't even need to click-through. Just show me something I might want to buy, like a soft drink. Hit me with a "brought to you by" message every four songs, or a reminder that a TV show is on tonight.
While you've at it, collect more data on me. You already know what music I like. Feel free to ask for more. If it'll help you sell ads and hopefully send me ads that will interest me, I'll fill in any field you add to my profile. Just make them optional to assuage the privacy fanatics.
The bottom line is you have a targeted service with three avenues through which advertisers can reach me, but I haven't seen, heard, or read a single ad. Regardless of royalty rate, you can't stay in business that way. I must have listened to well over 100 hours of your music this month, and near as I can tell, you've no revenue to show for that. You need to turn that around.
And hey, I'll do my part too. I assume you get a piece of any song you sell, so I'll try to be more diligent in my song bookmaking and when there's one It want, I'll buy it through Pandora. And if this isn't a source of revenue for you, I will hardcore smack you.
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Labels: music
Pandora should stop whining and start selling
posted by Sumocat at 8/18/2008 08:45:00 PM
4 Comments:
Hey, could you post a short video about your Toshiba R25? I am really considering getting this and it would be helpful if you posted a video!
By
Unknown, at 8/19/2008 12:15:00 AM
What specifically are you looking for? I have a few videos posted already that include screencasts from my R25. What other kind of info do you want to see?
By
Sumocat, at 8/19/2008 07:00:00 AM
Mainly anything that shows you actually using the Toshiba R25 and maybe you could talk about how you use it and how it affects your life and etc.
By
Unknown, at 8/19/2008 10:03:00 PM
That's still a pretty broad area. Brings to mind something like a documentary, which would require someone to video record me, or a sit-down discussion, which sounds dry. I'll need to ponder further and clarify an idea before I get started.
But in the meantime, I can split the difference: I'll share my ideas on such a video on the blog, sharing my usage in the process. That way you'll get some info while I figure this out, and you and others can give me feedback so as to give the video project a more specific and relevant focus. I'll post something later today.
By
Sumocat, at 8/20/2008 09:02:00 AM
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