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Direct-billed: Pandora Premium Price Increase

Trevor1
On the Rise

I just received this from Pandora 

 

Dear listener,

Please be advised that due to the increased cost of providing on-demand audio services, Pandora will increase the price from $7.99 to the new price of $8.99 for the 
Premium Monthly Military Direct Plan, effective May 24, 2024.

For instructions on how to change or cancel your subscription, see the information below.

Thanks for listening!
The Pandora User Support Team

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AdamPandora
Community Manager
Community Manager

Pandora Update - 04/30/24:

Hi, everyone!

Despite the continual rise in music licensing costs, we have been able to maintain consistent subscription prices; however, the current increase in our fees indicates how significant those licensing costs are.

We’re continuously working to control these expenses while still providing a high-quality listening experience.

If you have any additional questions or feedback, you will need to contact our support team directly for further assistance here.


Adam | Community Moderator

Come join in on the fun: It's Spooky Season Let's make a playlist together! ‌
New music alert!: Picks of the Week (10.21.24)


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21 Replies

7brokenroses
Underground

I got this in my email:

'Dear listener,

Please be advised that due to the increased cost of providing on-demand audio services, Pandora will increase the price from $109.89 to the new price of $120.89 for the Premium Annual Direct Plan, effective May 24, 2024.

For instructions on how to change or cancel your subscription, see the information below.

Thanks for listening!
The Pandora User Support Team'

 

Why such a drastic increase though? That's a big jump! On top of the fact that you don't have unlimited skips. It's ridiculous. 

gtbradley
Local Performer

I received similar email, (different plans different prices),   I logged into pandora via the web to confirm subscription. 

coderobson
Local Performer

I got a $33 bump. The price is now practically the same as the TIDAL family plan. I guess I'll have to give TIDAL's free trial a shot to make sure the pricing is competitive.

"Pandora will increase the price from $164.89 to the new price of $197.89 for the Premium Annual Family Direct Plan, effective May 24, 2024."

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@Trevor1 the family plan increased by $30.00 more per year...But as far as I'm concerned it is well worth the money for the amount of music I listen to...And for the amount of time I have spent putting together my personal playlists...Plus I can allow some family members to enjoy some free music as well...And to be truthful I waste more money than that on garbage I don't need, so to pay for a service that helps put me in a better mood, as well as other family members who like some good music to help them unwind after a long day or stressful week...It is well worth the money...

Have a great night...Take care and GOD bless...

MOHLovesAlaska
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Trevor1
On the Rise

I definitely agree with that with all the music available, a price increase is understandable. I was just posting the information for those who may not have seen the update. 

oneshotatlife
Local Performer

[CANCELLED] Pandora Subscription Is Too Expensive

I received an email yesterday informing me that effective 04/24/24, the monthly subscription price for my Pandora Premium Family plan is increasing 20%, from $14.99 to $17.99/month. I refuse to continue to pay more for the service. $18 for family premium is way too much. What we continue to pay for streaming and concerts is only making artists ridiculously richer. That is part of the reason that AI will likely destroy the music industry. Today, SIRI, which owns Pandora, is at an all-time low on NASDAQ ($2.99/share). The increase in subscription prices appears to be a desperate attempt by SIRI to tread water while wearing cement-filled boots.

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Me-myself-I
Opening Act

Sadly, I've already decided to cancel my subscription.😔

DawnEllen101
Local Performer

I don't mind the increase - that's my main music go-to so it's worth it for me.  My question is - I just renewed my yearly subscription a few weeks ago at the $109.89 price.  Will the price increase not go into effect for me until next year's renewal or do I somehow need to pay the difference now?  Thanks!

SPnoza13
Underground

Im sorry but Im not just gonna accept that generic email. I want to know why the price is being raised?! What has changed besides the year that you deem it necessary to raise the monthly price?  Because for about two years now I been noticing many of my personally built playlists that I've put together over the years are missing some of the artists albums/songs that were available before, like the album is listed in the playlist but is now showing as "Unavailable" and you cannot listen to them, I go back to that artists page and look at the albums and now half or more of the artists albums are now unavailable and this is across multiple music genres.

So my question to @Pandora is why are you raising prices to subscriptions and at the same time you're removing content? I just noticed more music in my playlists are now unavailable. I have contacted support in the past and I guess its due to licensing but if I have to pay for these increasing subscription costs then why doesn't Pandora pay their bills for rights to stream the music thats been removed?

I been a Pandora listener/subscriber for almost 15 years I have to say that Im glad Pandora doesn't raise their subscription prices every year for no real reason like Hulu and Netflix both services I no longer use because when I contacted them they had no real explanation as to why there is a price increase both stream the same almost the programming and the same programming available for years; I mean who the hell needs 47 versions of Batman both feature films and animated seriously! When I contacted those services and asked what is the reason for the price increase no one had a real answer; all just have their magic customer prase "We're going to be adding so much more new content" which means in the future so I ask why are you increasing the price now?! Increase it when the upgrades are available, how you gonna charge me for something you haven't done yet???  I cant stand how everything is going subscription, next thing we'll see is "Subscription Based Potable Water"

I think this is the end of the line for me and Pandora; music my religion is so my 24 hour sermons cannot be interrupted. I will be going over Amazon Music it appears to have everything thats been removed from Pandora and I can cancel any time - PEACE

Farewell Pandora

Trevor1
On the Rise

As everyone knows Pandora is raising the prices for a monthly subscription. I definitely understand for all the music available on Pandora and the cost for making all the music available, price  increases will occur sometimes. This news does bring about some important questions and scrutiny.  The price is increasing while at the same time , Pandora is still offering the lowest audio quality for any music streaming service. Pandora has abandoned many of the personalized playlist it use to provide to its subscribers. Pandora hasn’t offered many new features or new advancements for the Pandora app. While Pandora is increasing its price, Tidal music is dropping its subscription price. Now Tidal Music is  offering access to high resolution streaming and Spatial Audio for $10.99 a month, it was $19.99.  Tidal continues to improve their app with new features. Amazon Music has now announced a new AI playlist creation feature called, Maestro. Spotify has an AI DJ for you to listen to anytime. Apple Music now offers a stand alone app for Classical Music all in high resolution audio and Spatial Audio, that comes with your monthly Apple Music subscription, no extra charge. Other services are adding new features, providing higher quality audio and doing all this for the same price as Pandora. I feel Pandora is falling behind and falling behind quickly. For the subscription price, it has to be able to offer the same or better service than the competitors are offering.  For us as consumers, it’s an amazing time, we have so many services to choose from all of them trying to add the best features possible to get us to subscribe. Pandora needs to learn a hard lesson, they aren’t the only service anymore, the others are working hard to get us to subscribe to them. 

@Trevor1 nice post, and great research about the prices along with the features that others are offering... But I will stay with @Pandora because of several reasons...

1). I have made some good friends here on Pandora...you cannot put a price on that...

2). I have a lot of time invested in making my personal Playlists...

3). I have family members that are enjoying the family plan for free because I am paying for it so they can...

Thanks for the update...take care and GOD bless...

MOHLovesAlaska

Dougwfl
Local Performer

A 20% increase is simply not reasonable. I agree that the cost has become prohibitive and for me it's time to cut the ties and move on. I wish a significant portion of Pandora subscribers would do likewise. It's the most sure way to send the message that their prices are not sustainable. It's not that I can't afford it, it's that it simply isn't worth it.

 

AdamPandora
Community Manager
Community Manager

Pandora Update - 04/30/24:

Hi, everyone!

Despite the continual rise in music licensing costs, we have been able to maintain consistent subscription prices; however, the current increase in our fees indicates how significant those licensing costs are.

We’re continuously working to control these expenses while still providing a high-quality listening experience.

If you have any additional questions or feedback, you will need to contact our support team directly for further assistance here.


Adam | Community Moderator

Come join in on the fun: It's Spooky Season Let's make a playlist together! ‌
New music alert!: Picks of the Week (10.21.24)


hashref
Local Performer

Just an update. The above account was on my Family plan.

It's kind of a bummer, but after transferring my playlists and using Tidal for a while I have come to the conclusion that Tidal offers more to me for the same price. Best of luck to Pandora. 

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oneshotatlife
Local Performer

I cancelled my Pandora Premium Family subscription the same day I got the email. Costs will continue to rise as long as people are willing to pay the increased costs. Amazon Music is included with my Amazon Prime. Siri stock is down almost 50% in the past 3 months. Not Good!

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DubbleDee
Local Performer

I have close to 15 years of music stashed on Pandora. So many thumbs up, and I have very meticulously molded my stations to play exactly the kind of music I want on that station, which takes a lot of time with Pandora… You can do all that on the free version though, so they want people to pay $11 a month to skip ads? Not me. 

I will be leaving Pandora, and giving up my almost 15-year investment, solely based on this greedy $1 increase.

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ntg2978
Opening Act

I personally don't think this price increase is unreasonable.  I do wish Pandora actually upgraded their UI experience on Mobile (like saving to SD card for Android).  I also wish they would actually have more license agreements with the new increase.  Having said that, I still think that even without these things, I'd stick with Pandora, because they have the best radio implementation, based upon the Music Genome project (all music categorized by humans).

Maybe with the implementation of AI, this might not be as important going forward, but right now, they are the best at playing music similar to a particular song, album, or whole playlist.  One deal breaker for me could be if they keep losing license agreements to music I want to listen to.

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oofernandez8
Local Performer

My bill went up i don’t know why?

@oofernandez8 all Premium subscriptions have increased due to the costs of licensing fees going up...

Take care and GOD bless...

MOHLovesAlaska