Pandora expanding with Songs deal, unveils Thumbprint Radio

Pandora continues its close collaboration with the music industry. In the wake of a deal with Sony/ATV, it’s pacted a direct, multi-year licensing agreement with one of America’s largest indie co-publishers Songs Music Publishing. Details of the deal are confidential but it offers “improved performance royalties” for Songs’ writers.

Pandora CEO Brian McAndrews stated, “Pandora has a long-standing commitment to independent songwriters. This agreement with Songs underscores that commitment and demonstrates our shared belief that all publishers and songwriters should receive equal treatment. Pandora is a leader in the space.”

The deal precedes the unveiling of custom station feature, Thumbprint Radio. Building on the service’s ‘thumbs up’ feature, taking the 60 billion pieces of thumb data its listeners have created, Pandora can now suggest other music that should also be of interest.

Pandora promises Thumbprint Radio is not all of your thumbs up on shuffle; it’s likely to include various genres tailored to a user’s varied past preferences.

“We have combined all your favorites with music we know you’ll love to create a new station that reflects your unique musical thumbprint,” said Chris Phillips, chief product officer at Pandora, in a statement.

Pandora is now more consolidated than ever; in November it announced its purchase of the now defunct streaming service Rdio. Speaking exclusively toThe Music Networkat the time, a Pandora spokesperson said the purchase included “technology and intellectual property from Rdio”.

Pandora currently operates in just three territories; Australia, New Zealand and the US. It has around 80 million regular users. News that it wasplanning a global expansioncame in early November when reports suggested a return to the UK market.Pandora’s plans to expand further into the live sector were also teased when it acquired ticketing platform Ticketflyin October for US$450m.

However, it could be said Pandora’s future growth currently rests in the hands of the three federal judges in Washington, who make up the US Copyright Royalty Board. The Board is now discussing its costs for the next five years and will rule by tomorrow on the royalty rates that webcasters like Pandora will pay record companies.

Under the existing royalty rate structure, Pandora Media is struggling to make a profit. In 2014 royalties given to record companies made up 44% of Pandora’s revenue. Pandora’s current rate is 14 cents for every 100 songs. Naturally, Pandora wants those rates lowered, but music industry bodies – like non-profit licensing agency SoundExchange – are pushing for an increase.