Pandora unveils a $15-a-month unlimited family plan
The streaming business is a tough game, especially if your company isn’t called Spotify or Apple Music. Mid-tier player Pandora recently announced it had signed up six million subscribers so far compared to 75 million for Spotify, but it’s trying to boost that number with a new Premium Family plan. It offers unlimited streaming with no ads for up up to six family members at $15 per month, matching Apple and Spotify’s pricing.
Premium Family offers higher-quality audio than the non-paid tier and gives you and your kin the ability to create radio stations, customize playlists and download music offline. If you have the $10 Premium plan, you can hit your settings and “Switch Plans” to upgrade. At the same time, you can send, cancel or resend invitations to family members or friends. If you subscribed through iTunes, Amazon, Roku or Google Play, however, you’ll have to cancel your subscription and sign up all over again.
Pandora’s six million subscriber figure doesn’t sound too bad, until you realize that Spotify has 12 times that number and still doesn’t make a profit. Pandora is the fourth-largest music service behind Deezer, Apple Music and Spotify. It’s still well ahead of Tidal, at least.
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