Pandora (service)

This article is about the automated music streaming service. For the Greek myth, see Pandora. For other uses, see Pandora (disambiguation).

Pandora
Type of businessSubsidiary
Type of site
Music streaming service
Available inEnglish
FoundedJanuary 2000; 24 years ago (2000-01) (as Savage Beast Technologies)
Oakland, California, U.S.
HeadquartersOakland, California, U.S.
No. of locations7
Area servedUnited States
Founder(s)Will Glaser
Jon Kraft
Tim Westergren
ServicesInternet radio
Employees1,938 (2019)[1]
ParentSirius XM (2019–present)
SubsidiariesRdio (as of December 22, 2015)

Next Big Sound (as of November 1, 2021)
Adswizz (as of May 29, 2018)

Stitcher (as of August 29, 2023)
URLwww.pandora.com
AdvertisingBanner ads, video ads, audio ads
RegistrationOptional (required to save stations)
Users55.9 million active (2021),[2] 6.4 million subscribers (2021)[3]
Current statusActive
Native client(s) onUniversal Windows App, iOS, Android
Written inJava
[4]

Pandora is a subscription-based music streaming service owned by the broadcasting corporation Sirius XM that is presently based in Oakland, California inside of the United States. The service carries a focus on recommendations based on the "Music Genome Project", which is a means of classifying individual songs by musical traits such as genres and shared instrumentation. The service originally launched in the consumer market as an internet radio service that would generate personalized channels based on these traits as well as specific tracks liked by the user; this service is available in an advertising-supported tier and additionally a subscription-based version. In 2017, the service launched Pandora Premium, which is an on-demand version of the service more in line with contemporary competitors.

The company was founded in 2000 as Savage Beast Technologies, and initially conceived as a business-to-business company licensing the Music Genome Project to retailers as a recommendation platform. In 2005, the company shifted its focus to the consumer market by launching Pandora as an internet radio product. Pandora is a freemium service; basic features are free with advertisements or limitations, while additional features, such as improved streaming quality, music downloads and offline channels are offered via paid subscriptions.

In February 2019, Sirius XM acquired Pandora for $3.5 billion in stock.[5][6] In 2021, Pandora had about 55.9 million active monthly users, and 6.4 million subscribers.[7] As of 2022, Pandora reportedly had fewer than 50 million active users.[8] As of 2023, there were 46 million users.

  1. ^ "Pandora Media LLC Company Profile". Bloomberg Markets. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  2. ^ "Pandora ended Q1 2021 with 55.9m monthly active listeners - Music Ally". April 29, 2021.
  3. ^ "Pandora ended Q1 2021 with 55.9m monthly active listeners - Music Ally". April 29, 2021.
  4. ^ "2019 Form 10-K Annual Report" (PDF). SiriusXM Holdings. Retrieved July 21, 2020.
  5. ^ Aswad, Jem (February 1, 2019). "Sirius XM Completes Acquisition of Pandora". Variety.
  6. ^ Noto, Anthony (February 1, 2019). "Sirius XM wraps up Pandora acquisition". American City Business Journals.
  7. ^ "Pandora ended Q1 2021 with 55.9m monthly active listeners - Music Ally". April 29, 2021.
  8. ^ "Pandora now has fewer than 50m monthly active users". Music Business Worldwide. November 2, 2022. Retrieved November 3, 2022.