Pandora Launches New Pandora Plus Tier, And Redesigned Logo

Pandora has just recently launched its own new paid tier called Pandora Plus, and for good measure, the music streaming company also took the opportunity to debut a new redesigned brand logo. It may just be coincidence, but it bears noting that Amazon has also recently introduced its new on demand music streaming service called Amazon Music Unlimited.

Pandora actually first unveiled Pandora Plus a month ago as the midtier option in the company’s new three tier structured service. To be clear about it, Pandora will still continue to offer its free, ad supported radio product to consumers, but the Pandora Plus tier will be absolutely ad free, and will allow users to skip more tunes, enjoy more replays, and even offline listening, that is if they are willing to pay $4.99 a month. As for the next step up, Pandora will readying to debut a true on demand music streaming service before the end of this year.

As of last month, Pandora Plus was reported to possess a catalog of about a couple of million songs. Pandora is confident that this number will grow in due time. The company’s prior paid service offering was the Pandora One options, and listeners who are subscribed under this option will be automatically transitioned to the Pandora Plus option. Pandora One had put its focus in getting rid of ads, and has amassed a subscriber base of about 4 million listeners. 

In total, Pandora has around 78.1 million users, and has shown growth even in an increasingly competitive music streaming industry. Last month, rival Spotify revealed that it had already accumulated 40 million paid subscribers, an improvement over the 30 million it registered back in March early this year. And do not forget Apple Music, which now boasts 17 million listeners, up from the 13 million it reported last April. Of course, Amazon Music Unlimited can not be ignored. Its Prime option only costs $7.99 a month, which is two bucks less than the $9.99 pricing being offered by Spotify and Apple Music. Amazon also introduced a super affordable Echo only plan at just $3.99 a month.

With regards to Pandora’s new logo, it is said to convey the revolution that Pandora is trying effect in its branding, especially with its ongoing effort to expand beyond radio in order to better hold its own against on demand competitors such as Spotify and Apple Music.