Pandora has quietly become the latest music streaming service to raise prices, following in the footsteps of Spotify, Apple Music, Deezer and others.
The music service’s US Premium Personal subscription has been removed from $9.99 Arrive in a month $10.99 As of Friday (May 24), it was tied with Spotify, according to news reports and comments on the service’s social chat boards. Premium individual annual subscription fees start from $109.89 arrive $120.89.
Premium Family Plan has been changed from $14.99 Arrive in a month $17.99while annual family subscriptions start from $164.89 arrive $197.89. This is equivalent to a 20% Increases in family plans compared to family plans 10% Add personal plans.
“Despite rising music licensing costs, we have been able to maintain consistent subscription prices; however, the current increase in our fees demonstrates how significant these licensing costs are,” the company commented on a community message board.
“We continually strive to control these expenses while still providing a high-quality listening experience.”
Pandora, part of the satellite radio network SiriusXM, works differently than other streaming services in that it offers a “broadcast-style” experience where listeners can choose from channels that offer continuous music streaming. On the ad-supported tier, the ability to skip songs or search and play specific tracks requires listening to ads.
Those who subscribe to the Plus service, a hybrid of free and premium services, get ad-free unlimited skips, while premium subscribers can search and play tracks without listening to ads.
Plus service appears to remain on $4.99 a month; however, users who subscribe through the Apple and Google Play stores have seen the price increase to $5.99 One month last year.
Some commenters on the Pandora community message board noted, $17.99 The Premium Family plan is more expensive per month than other services, such as Spotify, which charges $16.99 One month. Some commenters said they would cancel their subscriptions; others said they would try other services.
However, even before the price increase, Pandora’s number of paying users was already declining. SiriusXM said in its first-quarter earnings report ending March 31, 2024 that Pandora lost money 64,000 paid subscribers, bringing the total to approx. 5.9 million.
This is on top of some losses 200,000 Subscribers in 2023, or 3% That’s half of the total, according to the company’s annual report released in February.
The service’s total monthly active users (MAUs) also declined in 2023, from 47.6 million arrive 46 millionThe decrease is approximately 3.3%.
The declining user base appears to be a long-term issue for Pandora, which emerged in the years following its acquisition by SiriusXM in 2019.
However, Pandora’s revenue will continue to grow in 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 due to growth in podcast ad sales and ad-supported users listening longer.
Advertising revenue growth for SiriusXM’s “Pandora and off-platform” segment 1% annual increasearrive $1.6 billion 2023.
“This increase was attributable to steady growth in the company’s programmatic and podcast ad sales despite challenges in the advertising market throughout the year,” the company said in its year-end report.
In the first quarter of 2024, the revenue of the “Pandora and off-platform” segment was $495 millionup 7% annual increasewhile advertising revenue increases 8% annual increase arrive $362 million“driven by podcast and programmatic revenue.”
Pandora’s decline in paid subscribers contrasts with other streaming services like Spotify, which has a growing premium user base 14% annual increase Q1 2024, 239 million. Despite the service’s first price increase last year, America’s Premium Personal plan dropped from $9.99 arrive $10.99 One month.
Deezer has been leading the way in price increases for music streaming services, having implemented two price hikes in the past two years. Annual increase of 12.8% The number of paid users increased in the first quarter of 2024, bringing the total to 10.5 million.global music business
