Report: Pandora To Offer One-Day, 99-Cent Passes For 24 Hours

One Day Pass

PANDORA will launch a new one-day pass for 24 hours of ad-free listening for around $0.99, expected to be available "later this year," according to a report on tech site GIGAOM. A regular monthly subscription to the service runs $4.99; the one-day free pass will allow users to listen ad-free for that time period.

“PANDORA is committed to delivering an effortless, personalized experience and we recognize some consumers may want an ad-free experience but don’t necessarily want to commit to a subscription,” said Chief Product Officer CHRIS PHILLIPS. “This offering will allow consumers to choose and explore what is right for them or suits a particular event or experience. Pricing and exact timing are yet to be determined but we expect it to be available later this year.”

A paid PANDORA subscription provides users with 192 kbps playback on the web — which is higher than the 64 kbps bit rate you get for free -- and more skips per day.

PANDORA also revealed that it is considering a three-day pass as well, but only the one-day option has been confirmed. Slides shown to investors stated a price tag of $0.99, but PANDORA says it will experiment with pricing.

PANDORA still makes most of its income from its ad-supported service. In Q4, the company generated $220 million in ad revenue, but only $47.9 million from subscrtiptions. Ad revenue grew 36% year-over-year, while subscription revenue grew by just 24%, as the music industry fights back against the freemium model,

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