Pandora Premium $9.99 on demand streaming to launch very soon

Pandora Premium $9.99 on demand streaming to launch very soon

Pandora announced that its $9.99 on-demand streaming tier (à la Spotify), Pandora Premium, will launch this week. Free trial invitations are being sent to select users on March 15 and an option to upgrade will be available to all listeners over the coming weeks.

Pandora Premium combines the music streamer's existing personalized radio-like service with the ability to search and play any track or album, alongside special playlist features tailored to their personal preferences.

Tim Westergren, founder and CEO of Pandora commented:

With Premium, we’re leveraging our immense trove of data and everything we’ve learned about personalization to offer a listening experience that sets a new standard for what a music service should be.

Desktop access to Pandora Premium will not be available until months later. That effectively shuts out millions of Pandora users who access the service during work hours. Existing Pandora Plus subscribers will get six months of Premium for no additional charge. Trial lengths for existing Pandora ad-supported listeners and those new to Pandora vary.