It was first rumored a couple of weeks ago that Amazon and Pandora were both developing new music services and both were expected to be launched soon. Earlier today, Amazon announced the launch of its new on-demand music streaming service and now Pandora has followed suit and launched Pandora Plus today. The timing of the launch can hardly be considered a coincidence.
Those who already subscribe to Pandora One will be upgraded to Pandora Plus, they won’t even have to lift a finger. Pandora One was only focused on providing an ad-free experience whereas Pandora Plus offers additional features as well.
Pandora actually announced its ad-free tier Pandora Plus last month. For $4.99 per month, subscribers get more features such as the ability to listen offline, skip more songs, and more replays. This can be considered as a stepping stone for the proper on-demand music streaming service that Pandora is expected to launch next year.
Pandora is looking to compete in a market where giants like Spotify exist and Apple Music is fast gaining influence. It has to show that it’s capable of creating new experiences to bring in more users in order to remain in business.
The new logo is meant to showcase the next phase of Pandora and the music experiences that it brings. The new app icon will be rolled out today on mobile and on web and other devices later this year.