Pandora CEO says company has seen 'no impact' from Apple Music launch

Posted:
in iPod + iTunes + AppleTV edited July 2015
Apple Music so far isn't -- and probably won't be -- a meaningful threat to Pandora, the latter company's CEO told analysts during a conference call announcing better-than-expected quarterly financials.




Brian McAndrews remarked that due to Apple Music launching on June 30, there's been "no impact yet," according to Business Insider. The company lost $16.1 million overall during the June quarter, but revenue was $285.6 million, beating forecasts. Advertising grew 30 percent year-over-year.

"Going forward, we feel really good about our trajectory and competitive position," McAndrews added. "With any big launch like this [Apple Music] and the noise in the marketplace, there could be some users that experiment with it and there could be some short term impact... But we don't believe that there will be any long-term impact."

Pandora is a relatively entrenched player in the streaming music landscape. As of June it had some 79.4 million listeners, and the service is available not only for mobile devices and the Web but can often be found embedded in TVs, media set-tops, game consoles, and even many car dashboard interfaces.

Unlike Apple Music, which is a predominantly on-demand service, Pandora is strictly radio -- although users can customize stations based on an artist or song, and vote on tracks as they play, content is otherwise served up algorithmically.

That could potentially allow the two services to co-exist. Apple Music does have a Pandora-like radio component, but its previous incarnation -- iTunes Radio -- failed to grab significant marketshare, and even its new form has been marginalized in Apple marketing next to on-demand content and Beats 1.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 89
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    "Going forward, we feel really good about our trajectory and competitive position,"

    When the **** has any company that Apple eventually crushed NOT said this?
  • Reply 2 of 89
    adrayvenadrayven Posts: 460member
    I canceled my Pandora.. guess I don't count. lol
  • Reply 3 of 89
    Al Franken (which autocorrect just changed to Frankenstein LOL) will put his fingers in his ears and go "lalalala I can't hear this over the sound of my bias." He and his lobby will go after Apple's hypothetical abuse of 800 million credit cards numbers against their competitors.
  • Reply 4 of 89
    mr omr o Posts: 1,046member



    They're lucky Apple Music has major UX issues. Basically, Apple screw up.

  • Reply 5 of 89
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member

    Jim Balsillie on the iPhone in February 2007:

     

    "It’s kind of one more entrant into an already very busy space with lots of choice for consumers ... But in terms of a sort of a sea-change for BlackBerry, I would think that’s overstating it."

     

    Brian McAndrews on Apple Music in July 2015:

     

    "Going forward, we feel really good about our trajectory and competitive position," McAndrews added. "With any big launch like this [Apple Music] and the noise in the marketplace, there could be some users that experiment with it and there could be some short term impact... But we don't believe that there will be any long-term impact."

     

  • Reply 6 of 89
    quadra 610quadra 610 Posts: 6,757member

  • Reply 7 of 89

    As the article mentions, they're not really the same product/service. I've used the ad-supported version of Pandora quite a bit and would probably continue to do so even if I subscribed to Apple Music. Sometimes you want to micro-manage the music, sometimes you don't.

  • Reply 8 of 89
    mr o wrote: »

    They're lucky Apple Music has major UX issues. Basically, Apple screw up.

    But but but monopoly
  • Reply 9 of 89

    I'm really surprised the Pandora CEO told us this instead of surrendering after three weeks.

  • Reply 10 of 89
    rogifanrogifan Posts: 10,669member
    I think Apple has a real PR issue with Apple Music right now. Jim Dalrymple called it a "nightmare" and said he was done with it and going back to Spotify. He shared his frustrations with Kirk McElhern on Kirk's podcast The Committed. Both Dalrymple and McElhern (who have large music libraries) said they would have gladly beta tested Apple Music (and knowing who they are they would have done it without leaking anything). Was there anyone outside of Apple HQ that tested this app/service?

    http://thecommitted.tv/home/2015/7/23/episode-89-a-fire-hydrant-in-detroit

    Don Melton, who was a software director at Apple (he was tasked with creating Safari and ran the safari team for many years) did not mince words about Apple Music on his latest podcast. On this same podcast Serenity Caldwell who writes for iMore shared some of her frustrations around iTunes Match and iCloud Music library and how confusing it all is. She said she had to create a family sharing FAQ out of whole cloth because Apple didn't have one. Similar to The Committed podcast the question comes up wondering why Apple didn't have a beta like they did with Photos.

    http://traffic.libsyn.com/zenandtech/melton06.mp3

    This morning I was watching CNBC talk about Pandora's results and both Jon Fortt and Kara Swisher dinged Apple Music and Apple Services in general. Kara said she just signed for Spotify premium because Apple Music was too confusing and needs a lot of work. Jon Fortt said he thinks Apple tried to cram too much into one app. This is NOT wha Apple wants people talking about. The good parts of Apple Music are being overshadowed right now. It almost seems like Apple Music was designed for people that have very little purchased music or large libraries and as long as those people are happy that's all Apple cares about.

    Scott Foratall took the fall for Apple maps. When is Eddy Cue held to account for the state of Apple services? I've said before and I'll say it again, I think Apple needs a dedicated SVP reporting to Tim Cook for cloud services. Eddy Cue's role right now is a mishmash of things that don't neatly fit into Apple's other functions. But it's too much and it seems Iike he might be a bit in over his head. As Benedict Evans tweeted:

    [QUOTE]
    @BenedictEvans: If not having a dedicated SVP Cloud Operations for any $300B+ company were a crime, for how long would Apple go to jail?[/QUOTE]

    Time for Tim to poach a top notch cloud executive from Google, Amazon or Microsoft and have them oversee and improve Apple's cloud services.

    Flame away!
  • Reply 11 of 89
    dipdog3dipdog3 Posts: 89member
    Considering Apple Music has a free 3 month trial, I don't see anyone canceling Pandora/Spotify until they have to start paying Apple.

    Still use Pandora's free service in places I can't use Apple Music, but I don't think that the free tier can be profitable.
  • Reply 12 of 89
    macinthe408macinthe408 Posts: 1,050member
    If he said impact was minimal, I'd believe him. But to say there was no impact at all is a nice full sack of bullsh1t.
  • Reply 13 of 89
    adamskiadamski Posts: 17member

    Apple Music is Crushing Pandora in Canada.

  • Reply 14 of 89
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Rogifan View Post



    I think Apple has a real PR issue with Apple Music right now. Jim Dalrymple called it a "nightmare" and said he was done with it and going back to Spotify. He shared his frustrations with Kirk McElhern on Kirk's podcast The Committed. Both Dalrymple and McElhern (who have large music libraries) said they would have gladly beta tested Apple Music (and knowing who they are they would have done it without leaking anything). Was there anyone outside of Apple HQ that tested this app/service?



    http://thecommitted.tv/home/2015/7/23/episode-89-a-fire-hydrant-in-detroit



    Don Melton, who was a software director at Apple (he was tasked with creating Safari and ran the safari team for many years) did not mince words about Apple Music on his latest podcast. On this same podcast Serenity Caldwell who writes for iMore shared some of her frustrations around iTunes Match and iCloud Music library and how confusing it all is. She said she had to create a family sharing FAQ out of whole cloth because Apple didn't have one. Similar to The Committed podcast the question comes up wondering why Apple didn't have a beta like they did with Photos.



    http://traffic.libsyn.com/zenandtech/melton06.mp3



    This morning I was watching CNBC talk about Pandora's results and both Jon Fortt and Kara Swisher dinged Apple Music and Apple Services in general. Kara said she just signed for Spotify premium because Apple Music was too confusing and needs a lot of work. Jon Fortt said he thinks Apple tried to cram too much into one app. This is NOT wha Apple wants people talking about. The good parts of Apple Music are being overshadowed right now. It almost seems like Apple Music was designed for people that have very little purchased music or large libraries and as long as those people are happy that's all Apple cares about.



    Scott Foratall took the fall for Apple maps. When is Eddy Cue held to account for the state of Apple services? I've said before and I'll say it again, I think Apple needs a dedicated SVP reporting to Tim Cook for cloud services. Eddy Cue's role right now is a mishmash of things that don't neatly fit into Apple's other functions. But it's too much and it seems Iike he might be a bit in over his head. As Benedict Evans tweeted:
    Quote:



    @BenedictEvans: If not having a dedicated SVP Cloud Operations for any $300B+ company were a crime, for how long would Apple go to jail?




    Time for Tim to poach a top notch cloud executive from Google, Amazon or Microsoft and have them oversee and improve Apple's cloud services.



    Flame away!

    I actually agree with some of your concerns (and the ones expressed by some of the market commentators). There really might be something there. The history of Apple and networked products is not the greatest.

  • Reply 15 of 89
    dipdog3 wrote: »
    Considering Apple Music has a free 3 month trial, I don't see anyone canceling Pandora/Spotify until they have to start paying Apple.

    Still use Pandora's free service in places I can't use Apple Music, but I don't think that the free tier can be profitable.

    Absolutely right. Who is going to cancel their go-to service while they're barely 1 month into a 3 month trial of a competing service. He knows it...he's just buying time. :)
  • Reply 16 of 89
    sirlance99sirlance99 Posts: 1,293member
    rogifan wrote: »
    I think Apple has a real PR issue with Apple Music right now. Jim Dalrymple called it a "nightmare" and said he was done with it and going back to Spotify. He shared his frustrations with Kirk McElhern on Kirk's podcast The Committed. Both Dalrymple and McElhern (who have large music libraries) said they would have gladly beta tested Apple Music (and knowing who they are they would have done it without leaking anything). Was there anyone outside of Apple HQ that tested this app/service?

    http://thecommitted.tv/home/2015/7/23/episode-89-a-fire-hydrant-in-detroit

    Don Melton, who was a software director at Apple (he was tasked with creating Safari and ran the safari team for many years) did not mince words about Apple Music on his latest podcast. On this same podcast Serenity Caldwell who writes for iMore shared some of her frustrations around iTunes Match and iCloud Music library and how confusing it all is. She said she had to create a family sharing FAQ out of whole cloth because Apple didn't have one. Similar to The Committed podcast the question comes up wondering why Apple didn't have a beta like they did with Photos.

    http://traffic.libsyn.com/zenandtech/melton06.mp3

    This morning I was watching CNBC talk about Pandora's results and both Jon Fortt and Kara Swisher dinged Apple Music and Apple Services in general. Kara said she just signed for Spotify premium because Apple Music was too confusing and needs a lot of work. Jon Fortt said he thinks Apple tried to cram too much into one app. This is NOT wha Apple wants people talking about. The good parts of Apple Music are being overshadowed right now. It almost seems like Apple Music was designed for people that have very little purchased music or large libraries and as long as those people are happy that's all Apple cares about.

    Scott Foratall took the fall for Apple maps. When is Eddy Cue held to account for the state of Apple services? I've said before and I'll say it again, I think Apple needs a dedicated SVP reporting to Tim Cook for cloud services. Eddy Cue's role right now is a mishmash of things that don't neatly fit into Apple's other functions. But it's too much and it seems Iike he might be a bit in over his head. As Benedict Evans tweeted:
    Time for Tim to poach a top notch cloud executive from Google, Amazon or Microsoft and have them oversee and improve Apple's cloud services.

    Flame away!

    All very well said. Love my iPhone, love my girlfriends new Macbook Pro, love most of Apple's hardware. Not liking Apple Music one bit. My joy for listening to music has gone down strictly because of the app.
  • Reply 17 of 89
    mike1mike1 Posts: 3,275member

    I would never pay for Pandora. The ads don't bother me and when I'm listening, I'm not usually right next to my device and the skip button.

    That said, I have not logged in to Pandora's site since iTunes Radio was introduced and I deleted the apps soon after.

     

    I really have no interest in paying anybody a monthly fee to listen to music, so I will stick with iTunes Radio and the stations I have created.

  • Reply 18 of 89
    Gotta have your eyes open to see trouble.
  • Reply 19 of 89
    chadmaticchadmatic Posts: 285member



    I am a loyal Apple consumer because of their superior hardware / OS X and iOS ecosystem.  MobileMe, iTunes Match, and Apple Music have all been frustrating experiences.  Wish Apple would simply focus on their core offerings and let other specialists take care of the services.

  • Reply 20 of 89

    He's missing one key point.

     

    Apple Music isn't designed to get people to leave their current service and change sides. It's to get the huge number of people who aren't using any streaming service to sign up and become a subscriber.

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