Pandora’s Update… what’s been rolled out next

As competition heats up, Pandora has unveiled some changes.  While the logo is freshened up to be brighter and clearer, with a fatter P and sharp blue on white background. Some commentators observe it’s very mid-80s MTV.

The Oakland, California-based company also introduced new features in the app for its 78 million global users and 4 million premium subscribers. All this is in the hope these “enhance your Pandora experience and help bring your music to life.”

It includes its first iMessage app, among the first streaming services to do so, behind Apple Music and Shazam. It provides information on the song being played on the user’s smartphone, and a number of new lists curated by Pandora. These include top trending tunes, current Top 40 hits, those thumbed up and thumbed down.

iOS users can now share what they’re hearing to friends. At this point, until Pandora’s on-demand music service arrives, the friend only has the easy option of tapping to start a new Pandora station based on the artist, and getting a 30-second grab of the song. (Unlike Apple Music’s iMessage where subscribers get the whole song).

Pandora’ s iMessage has also included a range of 12 custom stickers to share and to show the user’s response to a song.

The new features and look come as the company launches its $4.99 tier Pandora Plus, which replaces Pandora One. Pandora Plus has offline listening and more slips, and an automatic access to the full blown still-unnamed streaming service which arrives in the US at the end of the year.

The company’s Vice President of Design, Tony Calzaretta, blogged, “Music is a personal experience for everyone, from the artists creating it all the way to the fans listening to it. “And as Pandora continues to evolve the most personal music experience, our new look embraces the dynamic range of sound and color, visualizing the energy and emotion that artists pour into the creation of music, and that we feel as listeners.”

Calzaretta continues, “Our dynamic brand is composed of form, color and pattern, which we implemented into the new P icon and serves as your portal into the unique and diverse range of music you love.”