Recode: Pandora's 'Days Seem Numbered' And This Is Bad For The Music industry

Pandora Media IncPstruggles to earn a profit and remain relevant in the highly competitive online music streaming market has been well documented. A Bloomberg report on Wednesday suggested that Pandora's new streaming service dubbed Premium could be the company's final chance to gain traction in the market and beat the current leader, Spotify.

Recode: 'Pandora's Days Seem Numbered'

Recode's Peter Kafka interpreted the Bloomberg report as a sign that "Pandora's days seem numbered," as the company has been "treading water" at a time when its competitors are booming.

Kafka added that Pandora's management is also attempting to make the case why it shouldn't sell itself to a competitor or a strategic buyer such as Sirius XM Holdings Inc. SIRI. The problem is the music industry isn't happy about that prospect.

Kafka explained that Pandora was once the company that "music guys loved to hate" because Pandora saw success by taking advantage of copyright rules and didn't negotiate with the music labels. But today, Pandora changed its business structure and has licenses with the major music studios so the music industry wants to see Pandora stay afloat.

Specifically, the music industry wants to see more subscription services competing against each other.

"They want you to think that on-demand music, whenever you want, wherever you want it, is something you pay $10 a month for," Kafka emphasized. "Not just something you get for free with an internet connection."

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