Pandora Radio: Fire Unprofitable Customers?

The consumer also has the ability to listen to music without purchasing it. Today, individuals can do this by using online host sites such as Pandora and YouTube.

Ask anyone how they listen to music the answer will likely be through any means of easy access at an affordable cost. A study conducted by news outlet Nielsen 's Music 360 claimed, “Americans streamed 164 billion on-demand tracks across audio and video platforms in 2014”. The rapid increase in popularity music streaming platforms are experiencing leaves people wondering what that means for the music industry. When more consumers utilize the on-demand method of entertainment access, how does that translate to the artist being accessed? Astra Taylor contributes to this discussion in her book, “The People’s Platform: Taking Back Power and Culture in the Digital Age”. She lays criticism upon the idea of a more digitized

In may of nineteen ninety nine, Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker had had enough of paying for music. So, like any entrepreneur of the late nineties, they took to the internet, and founded Napster. A free website that used file-sharing technology to allow people to get their favorite songs by sharing files over the internet. The website was so successful, record companies began to take notice of their dwindling sales. By December of the same year, Napster was sued by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and basically anyone else who produced music for copyright infringement. Although the site got shut down, Fanning and Parker started what would become the music industry's streaming revolution. Music has become more and more vital over time because of the technology we use. Learning more about music can be beneficial to people all over the world. Today we will discuss the ways in which we consume music in the twenty-first century, how it has evolved, and what it means for the music industry going forward. I am going to discuss the way we listen to music because I have done Research about this topic and this is something I am passionate about. First, I will talk about the different technology that was so big decades ago. Then, I will talk about the different ways we consume music today and what that mean for the future. The changes in music development had in incredible impact on the music industry.

When wanting to listen to a song today, one no longer has to buy or download a physical copy. In today’s world, streaming has become one of the top ways of retrieving music content. This major change has led to a profound shift for the music industry and its artists. It has developed a continuous conflict that affects the way music is distributed and how artists make a living. Listeners stream music electronically through their computers, phones, cars, and more. Most of these streaming platforms allow for the content to be free, which directs to the question of whether music should be free or not. Streaming is a topic that has presented itself to be a valid issue on whether it ultimately hurts or helps artists and their careers. Streaming has both pros and cons, but in order to aim to figure a possible solution there needs to an examination of the history of the issue, a proper analysis of both sides, and evaluating its importance.

Gone are the days where artist, songwriters, performers, producers and records companies reap full successes of songs through stage performance and radio airplay. Since 1960, a technological evolution has created many changes in how music are made, played and performed. From the era where television and radio was popular with much of its viewers and listeners being the youth to development of the Internet and World Wide Web platforms, music suffered much development. Huge part of these changes was how music was delivered to the audience this time not on the radio or television but on the Internet websites where music

The purpose of this memo is to better understand how the cloud has changed the music industry for both artists and users. This is an evaluation of 5 of the most popular cloud-based music streaming applications. These applications allow people to have access to more music than ever before, wherever they are. Each app has different features that may make them appealing to different people, so it is important to evaluate them to see strengths and weaknesses.

Pandora originally started with a subcription type of business model wherein users must pay $36 per month after they have used up their 10 hours of free access. The original model used was the free trial type. What happened was after the free trial of 10 hours was used up, the customers were unwilling to pay for the subscription fee. Now, the new and current model being used by Pandora is the freemium business model. The new model offered users longer time limit in using their features, which could be used again in the next month and

As a company in the streaming music Industry, it is essential to have a competitive advantage in order to stay in the run. Indeed, a big competition is established between all the companies which are using more or less the same business model. In the streaming music Industry, it is easier for clients to make implicit bargaining. Indeed, the more subscribers a company has, the more music labels will be in

In recent decades, the music industry as a whole has undergone transformative change. From the introduction of the compact disc, to the rise of iTunes and digital downloads, to the current emergence of streaming services, the way that artists produce music and deliver it to consumers has been radically altered in the past 20 years. As record labels’ stranglehold on the talent search and product distribution side of the music industry subsides, streaming services such as Spotify and Soundcloud have become the preeminent distributors of new music. Their emergence has had a negative financial impact on the artists that drive an industry that has for years been one of America’s largest. Services like Spotify and Soundcloud are erasing the role of record labels in the distribution process, assuming that role themselves while paying small royalty fees to artists and labels for the right to stream to large subscriber bases that typically make use of free memberships. Due to the small number of paid subscribers accessing these services, industry revenue has dropped below $7 billion per year for the first time since record keeping began in 1973 (Seidenberg/Podgers). However, record labels are beginning to reach agreements with these services, ensuring that the labels themselves will continue to profit, and leaving the musician to suffer. And while these services do offer outlets and avenues for new artists to be discovered, the

I have used Pandora Radio and Hulu and liked them both for the most part. They allow you to have entertainment anywhere you would like, whether it’s music or TV. As for Pandora Radio I liked it when it was free once you had to pay for it I switched. This is because when I’m in my garage, I have music playing 24/7. It’s very user friendly and welcoming so that just about anyone can use it. The impact that Pandora Radio has on the society is very minimal in my opinion, but for as for businesses it gives them a way to have music for their employees or customers. The plus with this is that it increases moral for employees so everyone will work harder and want to be there.

In the music industry, there are several methods of sharing content. Between playing live shows, producing physical records, and now, streaming over music streaming services, artists and musicians from around the world contribute to the entertainment industry each day; however, in light of today’s technological age, more and more content is being shared and consumed through the later. In 2015, music streaming services grew to 317 billion streams, doubling the record amount of streams from the year prior—a figure that is only projected to grow in the years to come (“Nielsen: Music Streams”, 2016). Any consumer with an Internet connection can access these services’ content with

The "business side of music is struggling to generate enough revenue because of the new technology" ("How the Internet Changed Music."). "Most of the people who are part of making a record are paid in royalties, and anytime music changes hands without money being involved, those royalties can’t be paid—which is why so much has been done in recent years to try and reduce music piracy"("How The Internet Changed Music."). iTunes and Amazon has helped by offering cheap downloads for single songs, which allows the customer to only purchase songs they like rather than the entire album ("How the Internet Changed Music."). Spotify and Pandora, who offer either ad-based or paid subscription streaming of their music libraries, are Internet radio stations which have also helped with the piracy problem ("How The Internet Changed

Over the past decade, the use of CDs has been replaced with online streaming and retailing. This has eliminated much of the record companies revenues as they were used to making most of their profit off of distribution and promotion of physical copies of artists albums (Niemen). This has caused for a major shift and remodeling of major players in the music industries business models. Companies such Sony, Warner Music Group and Universal Music Group have started to completely rethink the way they conduct business (Forbes). In the past record labels were not only responsible for production, distribution and promotion of an artist and his/her music, but they also acted as a bank (Forbes), funding the artists tours and recording sessions. Recently, these music giants have been moving towards becoming more of a modular network organization. What this means is that they are less occupied with the nitty gritty, and more focused on what they do best which is distribution and promotion. This also allows for more freedom of creativity for the artist as well as fairer split of profits (Forbes). This adaption of new business models clearly shows the versatility of the music industry in adapting to new times and technologies.

Their service is offered to users as an alternative to the traditional pay-per-track services such as iTunes. The idea is to allow music consumers to listen to on-demand music from a “cloud” on the internet, instead of possessing the digitalized files on a computer.

The evolution of the music industry follows the familiar pattern of digitization. Innovation began with the introduction of the vinyl record, transitioned from the cassette tape to the compact disc and landed us in an era of digital downloads. The emergence of music streaming services like Spotify has progressed the industry even further, giving consumers the ability to access music on demand using download-free online platforms. Spotify faces criticism from artists as a result of the overlap of creativity and commerce. They argue that business activities corrupt creativity, transforming it into a tool for profitability rather than an outlet for expression. Artists insist that Spotify deters album sales, favors established artists and fails to support them financially. However, Spotify was created for consumers. It delivers an accessible alternative to purchasing and downloading music. The interplay between creativity and commerce is changing the nature of the music industry. Spotify has adapted to this change, providing a platform that supports both artists and consumers. Through analysis of the market, artist’s revenue, record labels and consumers, I will argue that artists should accept the evolution of the industry and support Spotify.