Pandora has three different tiers of services for its subscribers:
Non-Interactive Radio Stations
Here's an overview of what they are, and how they pay out artists.
Pandora is a curated streaming company. That means that while they accept submissions, they ultimately decide what actually goes up on their site.
1. Non-Interactive Radio Stations (free for users, paid via SoundExchange)
This is what Pandora's known for. Users type in a song, an album, or an artist that they want to listen to and Pandora creates a custom radio station based on the style of that music. It's free to use with paying Pandora a subscription fee.
There are two ways to get your music on this service.
- You may submit content directly to them by going here: https://submit.pandora.com/
- They only accept one release at a time. Once your release is either approved or rejected you may submit your next release.
- The approval process may take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. If rejected, they'll email you and let you know. If approved, they'll add your release to the Music Genome Project to process the ins and outs of your sound - this is what informs them on which stations to play your music. This process also may take up to a few weeks.
- You may submit content through Soundrop - Click here for instructions!
- You may queue up your entire catalog for distribution without having to wait for each release to be approved or rejected.
- The approval process follows a similar timeline coming through your distributor as it would if you submitted it directly. That means a few days to a few weeks for approval, and then another few weeks to be added to the Music Genome Project. They don't send approval or rejection emails to us, so the best way to know if your content has gone up is to search for it!
Once your content is up and people start listening to it, Pandora will report those streams and payout any performance royalties to your P.R.O. and sound recording royalties will go to SoundExchange / Soundrop.
- If you submitted your music yourself, then Pandora will send royalties to SoundExchange in a 50/50 split between the performing artist and the label. You may register for SoundExchange as both. SoundExchange keeps just under 5% as an administrative fee and will pay the rest out to you.
- If you submitted your music to Pandora through us, Pandora will send the performing artist's share to SoundExchange, and the label's share to us. SoundExchange keeps just under 5% as an administrative fee from the performing artist's share, and we'll take 15% from the label's share (just like we do on all other earnings that come through).
2. Pandora Plus (subscription for users, paid via Soundrop)
Pandora Plus is a semi-interactive radio platform. It offers the following features:
- Unlimited personalized stations
- Up to 4 stations for offline listening
- Unlimited skips and replays
- Higher quality audio
- Listen with no ads
The only way to be added to this service is to have your content delivered to Pandora via a distributor. Pandora pays out these streams directly to the distributor. Performance / mechanical royalties will be paid to your P.R.O.
3. Pandora Premium (subscription for users, paid via Soundrop)
Pandora Premium follows a more traditional streaming platform model (like Spotify). If offers the following features:
- Search and play any song
- Create playlists — on your own or powered by Pandora
- Download the music you want for offline listening
- Unlimited skips and replays
- Higher quality audio
- Listen with no ads
Like Pandora Plus, the only way to be added to this service is to have your content delivered to Pandora via a distributor. Pandora pays out these streams directly to the distributor. Performance / mechanical royalties will be paid to your P.R.O.
Ready to get your music sent to Pandora? Click here to get started!
What if my music is already on Pandora Radio? You're fine to leave it, but you'll miss out on Pandora's new features if you don't have it delivered through a distributor. Click here for more information