Pandora returns: Are there too many players?

13 Jul 2012, 11:24 am   -   Source: Rhiannon Elston, SBS
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Music sharing site Pandora has been looking to expand internationally for some time.

Music sharing site Pandora has been looking to expand internationally for some time.

Music fans tweeted and blogged their excitement as music streaming service Pandora quietly sneaked back into Australia this month, after a five-year shut down due to licensing issues.

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Music fans tweeted and blogged their excitement as music streaming service Pandora quietly sneaked back into Australia this month, after a five-year shut down due to licensing issues.

In the US, Pandora pioneered sharing tunes online. After an unsuccessful attempt at dipping its toe in the Australian pond in 2007, the service has finally returned – to a crowded marketplace. Spotify, Rdio, Guvera, Last.fm all, MOG by Telstra and JB Hi-Fi NOW all offer similar services, though not all music streaming sites are created equal.

Tim Poulton, General Manager of online magazine Music Feeds, has tried them all. He says part of Pandora’s appeal is its automated recommendation system, a feature the company likes to call, rather grandiosely, the Music Genome Project. “It basically goes in and picks up on your song choices, and your trends, even the tone and pitch [of the songs you listen to] and starts a radio playlist for you based on your preferences.”

That’s not to say the newcomer is necessarily the best, Mr Poulton warns. He says he tends to use different streaming sites in different ways. Rdio is better for mobile, he explains, while Pandora is “more for sitting in the office and not having to go to the effort of making up a playlist”.

Whatever your personal preference, there is no shortage of choice. As more companies learn to navigate the complex world of online music licensing, song sharing websites are sprouting up like mushrooms after the rain.

Many industry insiders view the change as positive. Writing on his blog last year, acclaimed US music author Eric Beall calls it “a model for a more promising future”. He argues the success of such sites benefit the whole industry, because it erodes the desire for music users to turn to piracy to listen to their favourite artists.

David Vodicka of Media Arts Lawyers represents some of Australia’s top music acts. He says the local industry has recognised the need to adapt to a model that converts people from non-paying (illegal downloading or file-sharing) services to one where the artist and copyright holders receive a benefit.

Ensuring artists get the correct payment amount they are entitled to every time one of their songs is played on a streaming site is a tricky science. The Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA), together with the Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS) is tasked with the burden of collecting and distributing royalties.

The song writer, their publisher, the recording artist and the record company may each have a claim to a royalty payment. Lawyers such as Mr Vodicka can sometimes find themselves dealing with payments that are “a fraction of a cent”.

Whether the industry can sustain so many players remains to be seen. Pandora’s struggle to turn a profit has been noted in the US, with some arguing its expansion to Australia is, in part, a survival mechanism.

A spokesperson for Pandora said via email: "We have been looking to expand internationally for some time. We are excited that the business environments in New Zealand and Australia are such that we can offer Pandora to music lovers there."

But one thing is certain, as 21-year-old self-confessed music addict Emily White illustrates: The next generation of music fans are firm digital natives. Nostalgia for music wrapped in paper and plastic is dead, or at least, dying. With support from the industry's core demographic fixed firmly on online presentation, this may be the only way forward.

As Tim Poulton puts it: “This is the industry moving to the future. It has only succeeded this far because it’s something that is working.”

 

 

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