PANDORA, WMG
BUTTON UP
LICENSING DEAL

Warner Music Group, the last holdout among majors for licensing as Pandora rolled out its mid-tier service this morning ahead of its full-boat on-demand service, has inked its pact with the streaming giant. The deal applies to Pandora's biz in the U.S.

Today's announcement of Pandora Plus, at about five clams a month, gives the company a mid-price entry in the streaming sweepstakes, but the real test will come when it rolls out its Spotify competitor (built on the bones of acquisition Rdio) in the coming months. Pandora enjoys some 125m quarterly active users.

As we noted earlier, Pandora and rival Amazon are said to have been throwing down mega-money for the new services.

“Warner has been a tremendous partner to Pandora and we’re thrilled to expand the relationship in a way that truly supports both of our businesses and the artists we serve,” proclaimed Pandora topper Tim Westergren. “With this agreement, we’re on a path to launch the world’s most personal and complete music experience that our listeners will love.”

“Pandora has built a huge audience with a compelling product and we’re looking forward to new and enhanced subscription services for music fans and improved monetization for our artists,” enthused WMG Executive Cousnel for Business Affairs Ron Wilcox.