Video Hangout with Pandora’s Steve Hogan
One of the men behind Pandora’s ‘Music Genome Project’ Steve Hogan joined Mumbrella for a video hangout today.
Hogan, who is Pandora’s global music operations manager, said the streaming service is constantly experimenting with playlists and focusing on improving its services in order to retain a competitive edge.
The local market is very competitive with international players Spotify, Pandora, and iTunes Radio continuing to battle it out with local providers including Telstra’s Mog, IHeartRadio from ARN and JB Hi-Fi’s own offering. Telstra is also understood to be in negotiations to get the Beats platform off the ground in Australia.
“Our biggest challenge is keeping our competitive edge. Our focus is all about the quality of the music playlists and there is a lot of competition coming into the field so we’re really focused on improving the metrics and what we can measure to see people are enjoying their experience on Pandora. And we do that by seeing how long people listen, how frequently they come back,” he said.
What percentage of commercial music vs independent music?
Can you tell us about your plans for Asia? Any plans to launch offices in this part of the world, where commercial music streaming is still in its infancy?
Cheers,
Robin – Mumbrella Asia
Where would you like to see Pandora Radio head in the next five years?
In breaking through the US market, do you think you have changed the way US consumers consume broadcast radio?
Or do you think you exist happily alongside broadcast radio stations?
Thanks to everyone that tuned in yesterday, just thought I’d chime in here with a little follow up to these questions.
@Steph – the mix is about 70% independent – this is a key part of what drives the “discovery” element of Pandora, and is a core part of how we operate in the ecosystem. Being able to discover new music that you won’t find anywhere else is cool.
@Robin – HI! Steve addressed this one during the broadcast.
@Sam – the next five year for Pandora will (with luck) see us pushing further what we think we can do with personalised radio, along with an expansion into international (as per Steve’s comments) and exposing more of the data in the platform itself. As our founder says – he wants us to be a 100 year company, and we’ve just turned 14. We have a long way to go.
@James – Pandora is now the largest radio network in the US, and has really left an indelible mark on how people consume music. Digital disruptors rarely bring about extinction, and nor should they, but they increase choice, expand audiences and hopefully deliver on some of the experiences listeners (in our case) demand. Sorry about that marketing answer, but its Friday afternoon,
Happy to follow up offline with any or all. You can find me through LinkedIn.
Thanks again