SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion
theverge.com
SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion
1–10 of 103 posts
Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion
#2Poor Pandora and their investors. This is for about a quarter of what they were worth just 4 years ago.
Saddly this is almost all self inflicted.
While Spotify, Apple music and Google music really worked hard to get people to actually pay for the service Pandora continued to act like it was a VC backed company in hyper growth mode long after that was the case.
They fought with the record labels longer than most of their competitors did to their own determent and they didn't end up getting any concessions for their extra effort.
And when everyone else was letting you select any music you wanted in playlist, they insisted on staying radio style only.
Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion
#3This makes me side. I am a long-time, paid subscriber. We'll see what happens next, fingers crossed.
I'm not sure if this was a win for the team or a mercy killing. But, if someone can explain what's in this for customers, that would be very helpful.
Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion
#4[deleted]
Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion
#5This makes me side. I am a long-time, paid subscriber. We'll see what happens next, fingers crossed. I'm not sure if this was a win for the team or a mercy killing. But, if someone can explain what's in this for customers, that would be very helpful.
SiriusXM is dying, if not already dead. Why do I need satellite radio when I can just listen to a podcast, or preload a bunch of music on my phone? Or just stream? 10 years ago, you could still do these things, but it was harder or very expensive. Now, you just open an app on your unlimited data phone, plug in the aux cable, and start driving.
So this purchase is about Sirius re-entering the market. I think they'll pivot pandora to be more self-serve and they'll merge the good things people liked about sirius (comedy, shock jocks) with the good things people liked about pandora (choice, freemium)
Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion
#6This makes me side. I am a long-time, paid subscriber. We'll see what happens next, fingers crossed. I'm not sure if this was a win for the team or a mercy killing. But, if someone can explain what's in this for customers, that would be very helpful.
>if someone can explain what's in this for customers
Second sentence of the article
>The satellite radio company says it intends to maintain the Pandora service and brand, along with its roughly 70 million monthly active users (5.6 million of which are paying members)
Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion
#7This makes me side. I am a long-time, paid subscriber. We'll see what happens next, fingers crossed. I'm not sure if this was a win for the team or a mercy killing. But, if someone can explain what's in this for customers, that would be very helpful.
SiriusXM is dying, if not already dead. Why do I need satellite radio when I can just listen to a podcast, or preload a bunch of music on my phone? Or just stream? 10 years ago, you could still do these things, but it was harder or very expensive. Now, you just open an app on your unlimited data phone, plug in the aux cable, and start driving. So this purchase is about Sirius re-entering the market. I think they'll p…
I only know a few people that are SiriusXM subscribers still. One of them only subscribes to listen to Howard Stern. He will also only rent a car that has SiriusXM. He is a bit of an outlier though. I'm not sure of other motivations beside those two (Him and rental company).
Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion
#8I used Pandora in the distant past.
These days I mainly use http://www.gnoosic.com for recommendations and then look for the artists on the web, Youtube, Bandcamp, Soundcloud etc.
Not sure if that makes me one of a kind?
This approach gives me more of a "discoverer" feeling then using one monolithic service that spoon feeds me my musical life.
Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion
#9Cancelling Sirus is always interesteing. I always say I don’t want to pay the $90 or however much for 6 months of access. No $50 is also too high. How about $30? Ok sure I’ll pay.
I think Sirus only makes money off the folks who forget to cancel after the promotional period. It’s like $20 a month and I’ve forgot to do it my self for a couple months.
Pandora always had the best selections on their radio channels. Spotify is not as good for random radio selections. I would never pay for Pandora after having so much music available on Spotify or Apple Music.
Re: SiriusXM buys Pandora for $3.5 billion
#10This makes me side. I am a long-time, paid subscriber. We'll see what happens next, fingers crossed. I'm not sure if this was a win for the team or a mercy killing. But, if someone can explain what's in this for customers, that would be very helpful.
SiriusXM is dying, if not already dead. Why do I need satellite radio when I can just listen to a podcast, or preload a bunch of music on my phone? Or just stream? 10 years ago, you could still do these things, but it was harder or very expensive. Now, you just open an app on your unlimited data phone, plug in the aux cable, and start driving. So this purchase is about Sirius re-entering the market. I think they'll p…
In regards to, "Why do I need satellite radio when I can just listen to a podcast, or preload a bunch of music on my phone?" you don't if you only listen to music or content accessibly on your preferred streaming service. Their strength is in their specific content, most notably Howard Stern to note one. If and when Apple Music/Spotify gets and/or can take away that big talent then yes Sirius will eventually be dead in the water. I use Sirius for things like CNN. I tried using CarPlay app for that and didn't work reliably enough compared to the simplicity of just knowing Sirius in car is always there and always work even if ones phone dies or any other random situations. Sirius has horrible customer support and they deserve what is coming to them, but still think they have a lot of gas left in in them as long as they continue to retain their headliners and come preloaded in new cars with free trials.