Pandora touts 200 million listeners, continues to curb mobile listening

By Joshua Sherman April 9, 2013

pandora-large — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Pandora co-founder Tim Westergren happily announced today on the company’s official blog that it has reached its 200 millionth registered listener. The milestone comes more than 12 years after the company got its start way back in 2000, and is another step in the right direction for the online music service as it faces rising royalty fees and other licensing conflicts.

The 200 millionth registered listener comes nearly two years since the company reached its 100 millionth registered user back in July of 2011. The steady progress for the company is good news for Pandora, which has been under the careful watch of investors since going public in 2011. With 200 million registered listeners, more than 55 million active users, and a place among the top 250 websites on the internet, Pandora has accomplished a lot in recent years.

But while Pandora has been celebrating its success, rising royalty fees continue to cut into the company’s revenue. The company went as far as to limit users to just 40 hours a month of mobile listening back in February unless they opt for a $36 per year Pandora One plan. This was done in order to curb heavy users who are mobile, and only receive a fraction of the ads that desktop users see. While advertising still accounts for more than 80 percent of the company’s revenue, the addition of subscription options have helped curb some revenue concerns for the company. By far though the biggest cut into Pandora’s success has been expansion, where the company has been unable to get itself into Europe and other regions beyond the United States, Australia, and New Zealand. To this day the company is still fighting to get into Europe, where royalty and licensing rules have kept the company stuck in some sort of bureaucratic hell.

Pandora has accomplished a lot, especially when you consider the fact the service still isn’t allowed in Europe. If Pandora ever gets its way with the royalty companies, then it will have a lot more to celebrate about in the months to come.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Joshua Sherman is a contributor for Digital Trends who writes about all things mobile from Apple to Zynga. Josh pulls his…

Mobile

You can pick up the Google Pixel 7 Pro for only $500 today

The Pixel 7 Pro with its display turned on, showing the home screen.

If you've been holding out on buying a new phone for a while because prices are still expensive, then you may want to consider going for one of the older flagship phones. For example, while the Pixel 8 Pro is out, the Pixel 7 Pro is still a powerful and viable alternative, and even better, it has quite a few great deals on it. In fact, you can buy a brand new and sealed Pixel 7 Pro from Woot for just $500, rather than the usual $1,100, and that's for the 512GB version of the phone, so you get a lot of storage with it as well.

Mobile

A new Google Pixel Tablet is coming, but it’s not what you think

Google Pixel Tablet on its charging dock.

It's been almost a year since the Google Pixel Tablet went up for preorder, leading many Android tablet fans to wonder when the inevitable Pixel Tablet 2 will arrive. A new rumor suggests that Google could release a new Pixel Tablet as early as next month, but it's probably not what you were expecting or hoping for.

According to @MysteryLupin on X (formerly Twitter), Google is planning to "relaunch" the Pixel Tablet without the charging/speaker dock included in the box. As you'll likely recall, the speaker dock is the Pixel Tablet's standout feature. You can use the Pixel Tablet on its own as a traditional Android tablet when you want, and when you're done, you throw it on the dock to transform it into a smart display. The idea of Google selling the Pixel Tablet without its claim to fame is an interesting one.

Mobile

Anker sale: up to 40% off portable chargers, cable, and more

The iPhone 15 Pro Max being charged by the Anker MagGo Power Bank.

If you've been looking to pick up a new charging cable, charger, or all-in-one charging station for your Android phone or iPhone, then you'll be happy to know that Anker is having a rather large Earth-Day sale that you can take advantage of. There are a ton of discounts that you can take advantage of, too, with up to 40% off in some cases. I that wasn't enough, you can even snag yourself some free gifts, for example, one of the best accessories for a Galaxy S24 is the Anker Nano Power Bank if you spend more than $90, or even an Anker 621 Magnetic Battery if you spend over $120. Either way, there are a lot of options, and while we've shared some of our favorite deals below, it's also worth taking a look at everything Anker has to offer by pressing the button below.

What you should buy during Anker's Sale
One of the most basic things you may need for any device is a charging cable, and Anker has a couple of great options for that. If you're on an older iPhone with a lightning cable, you can grab Anker's Anker 641 USB-C to Lightning Cable that's 6 feet long using the coupon WSPEV2KENJP2. On the other hand, if you need a USB-C to connect and charge your devices, you can grab the 6-foot Anker 543 USB-C to USB-C Cable using the code WSPEV2EHDR0C.