Spotify Finally Launches Web Radio, for Real. And That's a Problem for $潘多拉网络电台(P)$
And Pandora, which has consistently argued that it hasn’t seen any impact from Spotify’s U.S. launch last summer, may no longer be able to say that. Because if you like Pandora, you may very well like Spotify just as much.
A few notes:
Like Pandora and every other Web radio offering (including Clear Channel’s iHeartRadio and the newly popular Songza), Spotify’s radio service is “DMCA compliant,” which means that Spotify doesn’t need permission from music owners in order to roll it out. That means you’ll be able to hear the Beatles and other streaming music service holdouts.
But that also means the service comes with restrictions, like a limited ability to choose songs and skip past songs you don’t want to hear. And just like Pandora, the free service won’t work outside the U.S., because of licensing issues.
Because Spotify also has a paid music service, it can integrate the two in interesting ways for subscribers. For instance, paying subscribers can fast-forward through songs. They can also access auto-generated playlists of songs they’ve heard on the radio service, and pick and choose songs from there.
One other difference between the two services: Pandora programs music based on a complex algorithm based on songs’ musical “DNA.” Which means that if you tell Pandora you like the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” it will find other songs that feature ”rock & roll roots,” “a subtle use of vocal harmony,” “acoustic rhythm piano,” etc. But Spotify says it is relying on the “social graph,” so it will find music that people who like the Ronettes also like. You may notice this, or not.
Web radio is free for Spotify’s users, but not for Spotify: It will have to pay music owners a set price for every song it streams, and that gets expensive. And those costs keep going up the more people use it. Which is why Pandora has yet to earn a profit.
Spotify says it will be able to defray its costs through the advertising business it has already established. But as Pandora has shown, selling mobile advertising for music services is a challenge.