Amazingly, in the over 100 posts I’ve written in the past thirteen months on The Buzz, I haven’t made mention yet of one of my favorite online music sources, Pandora.
Taking songs or artists you input into Pandora as a starting point, and using like and dislike data of tracks it then suggests, Pandora has introduced me to all sorts of music, both songs I’d heard and forgotten, and music to which I’d never been introduced. Trips to iTunes have followed many times as a result of my discoveries.
It turns out I’m not alone. New research from NPD Group shows services like Pandora boost music sales by 41 percent, proving that music discovery services can help drive incremental sales. By comparison, services that let people select their own music don’t do as well (they provide a 13 percent bump in music sales). That, to me, seems obvious; if you choose what you want to listen to, you’re not as likely going to discover anything new.
The numbers are U.S. only, but seem about right – services that don’t give the user complete control are likely going to introduce listeners to things they’ve never heard; that in turn spurs sales. From my personal experiences, services like Pandora, that analyze the music and find songs that have similar traits, does a good job of making recommendations, and is worth it if you’re on the prowl for other selections.
