Pandora|Policy

Publication

Fans’ Embrace of Streaming Sustained Music During a Tumultuous Year. Why, and What Does it Mean for 2021

"The full-fledged consumer embrace of streaming helped avert a total collapse of the music business," writes DiMA President & CEO Garrett Levine in Music Business Worldwide

The music business in 2020 experienced an unprecedented cacophony of events. Live music businesses tragically shuttered. A virtual performance market emerging. Yet despite it all, music lived on through streaming as it continued to be embraced by nearly every American with an Internet connection, even in the face of a global health crisis and massive economic disruption.

This is not the only 2020 storyline in music, but it is certainly one of the more hopeful: the full-fledged consumer embrace of streaming helped avert a total collapse of the music business. As one analyst put it: “streaming remains resilient,” with “music industry revenues [holding up] relatively well compared to other industries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The growth of digital streaming has allowed consumers to access and enjoy music regardless of social distancing restrictions.” …

The 2020 music streaming service is your record store, jukebox, speaker, FM radio station, mp3 collection, MTV, set of liner notes and smart music friend all wrapped together in one captivating experience. And critically, streaming services allow you to access all of that without leaving your home—a vitally important characteristic over the past year…

More than ever, I have grown to appreciate just how connected successes and failures are. Music’s resilience is impressive but not infallible.

We should be wary of rhetoric that essentially suggests burning the village in order to save it, or of proposals that ignore how the fundamental complexity of the business — including the balance of payouts to different rightsholders — contributes to the current economics for creators. Any honest reckoning of our business must examine what happens to the 69 cents of every dollar that digital music services pay to record companies, music publishers, and PROs.

For all of us who are part of the community supporting this artform that helped sustain us through this challenging year, our posture should be one of finding solutions and forging partnerships. That is ultimately the approach that resuscitated the music business from a decade-long decline, produced the durable foundation that helped sustain our community through this tumultuous time, and is one reason for continued optimism in the new year.

Read the full Music Business Worldwide op-ed from DiMA President & CEO Garrett Levine here

SiriusXM + Pandora Join NIVA, Music Industry Leaders in Urging Congress to Support The RESTART Act

SiriusXM + Pandora joined the National Independent Venue Association and US music industry leaders in a letter urging Congress to support the RESTART Act, which would tailor PPP to work for shuttered businesses that have no revenue, high overhead and no clear timeline for reopening in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Independent music venues are still effectively shuttered and with zero revenue and the overwhelming overhead of rent, mortgage, utilities, taxes, and insurance, 90% of independent venues report that if the shutdown lasts six months and there’s no federal assistance, they will never reopen again.

Read the Full Letter Here

 

Publication

How SiriusXM’s the Highway, airing ‘Stagecouch’ this weekend, became a not-so-secret weapon for new country singers

The Washington Post
Emily Yahr

For the millions of people who subscribe to satellite radio, it’s a reliable source of time travel: big band sounds from the 1940s, alternative grunge, classic R&B, early millennium pop smashes, the Beatles, hours of Howard Stern interviews. The possibility to get lost in the past is endless.

But at the other end of the spectrum, some channels are focused on current pop, rock and hip-hop. Then there’s the Highway, the modern country music channel — which, even in an era of endless listening options, still frequently serves as the genre’s crystal ball for future country stars and their hits. In a format where radio is king and often heavily regimented on commercial stations where labels push specific singles for airplay, Highway programmers indulge in the freedom to play whatever they want.

Publication

SiriusXM Goes Hollywood With The Help Of Dave Matthews, Billie Eilish, Howard Stern And More

Forbes
Steve Baltin

SiriusXM recently set up shop in Hollywood, building studios and their own venue for intimate live shows, “The Garage,” in a Hollywood high rise. To celebrate their expansion in L.A., the satellite radio behemoth, which now carries more than 100,000,000 subscribers and listeners after their merger with streaming service Pandora, held a series of special events around L.A.

Publication

John Legend Wows at Union Station Pop-Up Performance

NBC 4 Los Angeles
NBC 4 Los Angeles

People’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ serenaded some lucky fans, for free, with Christmas music.
Publication

Sway Calloway Partners With SiriusXM And Pandora For Inaugural Sway Fest 2019

AllHipHop News
Shirley Ju

Sway Calloway has been known to be one of the most well-respected hip-hop journalists and radio personalities to ever do it. Now, he’s taking his efforts to the next level: a whole festival under his name. For the first time, he will be teaming up with his home team SiriusXM and Pandora to launch the inaugural Sway Fest 2019.

Publication

Pandora Launches ‘Fall Into Country’ Marketing Push

Billboard
Marc Schneider

Pandora is stepping up its outreach to country music fans with a new “digital country music festival” campaign that will feature concerts, station takeovers and other exclusive content, all as part of an effort to grow what is already the service’s second biggest genre audience and, of course, to attract more paid subscribers.

Publication

Incoming Pandora CEO Roger Lynch Shreds With Corporate Bandmates at Aspen Fest: Exclusive Interview

Billboard
Steve Knopper

The rocker-turned-digital music executive talks about his musical roots and his plans to be a “stabilizing force” for his new company.

Publication

Bruce Springsteen Is Bringing His Music and His Memories to Broadway

The New York Times
Ben Sisario

The show, “Springsteen on Broadway,” will run five nights a week, Tuesday to Saturday, at the Walter Kerr, the rose-and-gold-decorated jewel box on West 48th Street that last housed the short-lived “Amélie: A New Musical.”

Publication

Big Sean, Machine Gun Kelly, Noah Cyrus, Starley To Perform At Pandora Sounds Like You Summer Concert at L.A. Memorial Coliseum,

All Access Music Group
All Access Music Group

BIG SEAN, MACHINE GUN KELLY, NOAH CYRUS and STARLEY will topline PANDORA’s SOUNDS LIKE YOU SUMMER concert at the L.A. MEMORIAL COLISEUM on JULY 29th. There will also be special performances by hosts JACK & JACK and sets by DJ MUSTARD.