Not just music to your ears: Pandora is testing letting artists speak directly to their fans.
There s a complicated relationship between musicians and streaming services. Companies such as Pandora and Spotify are constantly trying to appease artists, who complain that they re not earning enough in royalties. (Most famously, pop star Taylor Swift late last year pulled her music from Spotify, saying she didn t feel artists are being compensated fairly under the streaming model.)
Might the Pandora pilot program be part of the solution? The Oakland company is allowing selected artists to record messages their fans will hear on the Internet radio service. For example, Lenny Kravitz, one of the artists in the pilot program, could thank his fans, or promote a new album, concert or merchandise.
The revenue it will generate per artist will dwarf royalties, Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren told Bloomberg. Most artists are blown away by the size of the platform. Most artists don t know how big it is. Pandora has 81.5 million active listeners.
Besides this pilot program, Pandora also makes data about its fans available to artists, who can use the information to more accurately target their audience.
Likewise, Spotify offers artists analytics tools. The streaming service also offers concerts listings within its app, and says it will roll out merchandise listings as well.
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