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Pandora adds brief, infrequent audio ads
Now, you might not notice the ads at first. They're only about 15 seconds long, not every user will be hearing them right away, and Pandora CEO Tim Westergren says the average user will only hear about one ad every two hours. But the move does represent a potential new revenue stream for Pandora, which like other internet broadcasters is facing rising royalty rates for streaming music in the US.
This isn't the first time the company tried streaming audio ads in addition to the display ads that show up on the Pandora web page. Back in 2007 Pandora tried a similar experiment, but decided to cancel it due to negative feedback from users.
What do you think? Are you willing to put up with 15 seconds of advertising for 2 hours of free music? Or do you think this is a slippery slope toward 20 minutes of advertising every hour? Would you rather pay $36 a year for an ad-free service?
[via Gizmodo]
Comments
12
Subscribe to commentsDarenJan 21st 2009 5:41PM
Dont see what the big deal is- many other services do the same thing including Slacker (better than pandora IMO)
EnriqueJan 21st 2009 5:50PM
I would never pay a subscription fee for Pandora, but I could handle a 15 second ad every couple of hours...
-=Ben=-Jan 21st 2009 6:08PM
Hey everyone, I found a solution to this problem:
Use Last.FM!!!
http://www.last.fm/user/BenOnUserstyles
DarrenJan 21st 2009 6:11PM
Don't see what the big deal is - many services, including Pandora, aren't available outside the US.
Pandora can run 60 minutes of ads an hour, I can't listen to them anyways (despite their promises years back of working to try and fix that).
Anyone outside the US gets this:
"Dear Pandora Visitor,
We are deeply, deeply sorry to say that due to licensing constraints, we can no longer allow access to Pandora for listeners located outside of the U.S. We will continue to work diligently to realize the vision of a truly global Pandora, but for the time being we are required to restrict its use. We are very sad to have to do this, but there is no other alternative. "
So, Pandora.. fill your slots with ads, the rest of the world is listening to Last.Fm.
KemwerJan 21st 2009 6:29PM
Yes, we (brazilians) are listening to Last.FM. And at least for my part, I'm sad to be, because I would prefer Pandora any day of the week.
I find particularly funny when people are so fast to complain about copyright laws that make the life of amazing services like Pandora so hard, say that they could sign petitions to help those services remain active, and yet so many cannot actually do something to help, even something so simple as to hear a 15 seconds-long message every two hours.
So no, I don't see any problem hearing this 15 seconds ad. With the quality that Pandora offers, I would probably be okay hearing 15 second ads every 3 or 4 songs, because I know those ads would be surrounded by my favorite songs. I always did that when listening to radio, why would that be a problem now?
step21Jan 22nd 2009 8:22AM
Kemwer: I've listened to both pandora and last.fm and now use last.fm only, because its much more consistent, better recommendations, able to learn from my existing music, better website, no audio ads, and because it cares less where you are. Though I sometimes hear ppl saying they think pandora is so much better, so why is that exactly?
KemwerJan 23rd 2009 4:52PM
Maybe you just have better luck with Last.FM's recommendations then me.
Personally I only started listening to Last.FM once I was able to use "my personal radio", made only by songs I had previously scrobbled. Sometimes I try giving the system a single artist to create a new radio, but I found that the list goes out of way pretty quickly, and start playing music genres completely unrelated to that I started with.
When that happens, I find myself constantly banning songs, and getting annoyed by the fact that I have to ban multiple times songs from the same bands, and the radio will continue to play another songs from that band. Last.FM's radios are totally oblivious to your listening habits; the channels are created from the general relationship between artists, but not from your personal tastes.
On the other hand, Pandora can also be pretty bad... when you start a new radio. As soon as you add more bands or songs, and begin to favorite or ban songs, the radio gets more and more personalized, making radios you create absolutely perfect after long use.
A few of my current favorite bands were some I discovered while listening to Pandora, while unknown artists are usually annoyances for me on Last.FM.
There's also the fact that, at least for me and my bad internet connection at work, Pandora is much easier to stream, and don't start cracking every time someone there begin downloading something, like Last.FM sometimes does.
Stuart HallidayJan 22nd 2009 11:18AM
Once you allow adverts, they just get longer and longer over time. Just look at the way ITV or SKY 1 do their adverts now.
I say all commercial streams should offer a subscription service for those of us who want a high quality noise-free service and are willing to pay for it.
Once you pay for a service you automatically get the added benefits of being able to complain when it goes wrong and the Service provider has to remedy it and we all know that the service provider content is always influenced by their customers.
So I prefer that to be the end-consumer rather than an advertiser wouldn't you?
BoBoTheChimpJan 22nd 2009 8:41AM
I'd like to know why Pandora puts Radiohead on almost every station I make!
JamusJan 22nd 2009 9:41AM
A huge ratio of ads to music (crappy music mostly, but still it was music) is what turned me off of normal radio. A few ads that are kept at NORMAL volume levels would be acceptable. People have to eat after all. The minute they get annoying, is when I split.
TraciJan 23rd 2009 10:02AM
I concur with Stuart. Provide a subscription service for those who don't want advertisements. Keep the free option for those of us who will listen to 15 seconds of commercials. I don't mind listening to a 15 second commercial every hour. Pandora has to pay their bills somehow!
KemwerJan 23rd 2009 5:10PM
There is already a subscription service for Pandora. It's $36 a year if I'm not mistaken, and completely removes all ads from the service, both audio and banners.