Pandora One on Pandora Radio & Music: Price Increase Coming In May; How Much More Will It Cost?
Pandora is about to become more expensive, but barely.
The popular music streaming company announced changes to its Pandora One subscription plan, which allows users to listen to the content without having to deal with advertisements. The price for the subscription has been $3.99 but it will be going up to $4.99. To keep users from getting too upset, the company grandfathered existing active subscribers into the already-set price of $3.99. The incoming subscribers will have to cough up an extra dollar a month when it goes up to $4.99 in May.
In a blog post on the Pandora blog, the company elaborated upon the changes and justified the price increase.
"We've been fortunate to be able to offer Pandora One at an affordable price since its debut in 2009 at $36 per year and later with the introduction of a monthly subscription for only $3.99 per month," the Pandora blog post said. "Over this same period, the costs of delivering this service have grown considerably. For example, the royalty rates Pandora pays to performers via SoundExchange for subscription listening have increased 53% in the last five years and will increase another 9% in 2015."
The company then touched base on the new policy that will allow existing active users to continue paying the same price, for now, while others will see a small price hike.
"In order to continue to provide an ad-free listening option, we are implementing some changes to the way we price Pandora One, including a modest price increase for new Pandora One subscriptions."
What do you think about Pandora? Do you think it is a better option than it would be if you purchased all of your songs on iTunes or elsewhere? Let us know what you think in the comments section located down below.