Disqus
Pandora is struggling to pay royalty fees and it looking to mitigate that cost by limiting the amount of time mobile users on a free account can listen to music. According to a Wall Street Journal report, Pandora will limit mobile listening on a free account to 40 hours each month. This change should only affect 4% of Pandora users as most users only consume 20 hours across all devices each month.
Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren justified these changes by noting that royalty rates have skyrocketed 25% in the past three years and are slated to go up another 16% in the next two years. Westergren argues that this new limit is the company’s best option to “manage these escalating costs with minimal listener disruption.”
[Via WSJ]
About The Author
Kelly Hodgkins
Kelly spent the last four years covering mobile technology at places like BGR, Gizmodo and The Unofficial Apple Weblog. Before writing, she spent a few years working with and teaching others how to use Adobe Flash and Macromedia Director. Even earlier than that, she spent several years as a Ph.D student in Microbiology. When she's not writing, she can be found fishing the lakes and hiking the mountains of Western Maine with her husband and tribe of children. You can follow her on Twitter @kellyhodgkins.
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