Listening to music has always been the best remedy for all my insecurities. And if I had to pick one social enterprise that impacted me the most during my stay in the States, without any hesitation, I would chose Pandora. I truly benefited from complimentary 40 hours per month of music according to my peculiar tastes.
It’s amazing how a legitimate content provider like Pandora is sustaining as a listed company with shareholders constantly pestering about its profitability. The article attached illustrates how the new CFO managed to view Pandora’s high cost structure to be positive in terms of setting higher entry barrier for potential competitors. Instead of trying to drive costs down by paying the musicians less, the CFO focused on making advertisers pay more per unit of advertising inventory by limiting the supply while the demand remained steady.
I dare say that access to music can be regarded as basic service for average population in developed countries where smartphones are essential commodity per capita. Providing customized selection of music for free for the general public in exchange for limited exposure to advertisement, increasing income for musicians who lack marketing power and distribution channel, and saving resources to manufacture CDs as the sole medium Pandora utilizes is streaming can be acknowledged as social and environmental outputs of Pandora’s business model. Outcomes such as the pacifying pleasure I was able to benefit are immeasurable.
Why did they name Pandora? The following is from their website:
The name Pandora means “all gifted” in Greek. In ancient Greek mythology, Pandora received many gifts from the gods, including the gift of music, from Apollo. She was also, as we all know, very curious. Unlike those gods of old, however, we celebrate that virtue and have made it our mission to reward the musically curious among us with a never-ending experience of music discovery.