Pandora now free.. and desparate?

I was a fan of Pandora, the music discovery service which created such buzz recently, and used it quite a bit during my free trial but still didn't think it worth the price of subscription when that trial ended. But I received an email this morning which began thus -

"This email arrives at your doorstep after much internal debate at Pandora.  We were torn between abiding by our earlier promise to never email you again, while also wanting to at least let you know about a very significant change in our service.  We hope you don't mind."

Well I don't really, not too much anyway, considering you didn't charge me previously for a useful service.  But what irks me a little is that you broke your promise and it immediately smacks of desperation. Don't you think I'd have heard the great news you want to tell me from other sources, like the blogosphere, especially seeing as most of your early users would have been early adopters anyway.

"Thanks in large part to all of the great feedback we received during the preview, we have had an incredibly successful public launch.  The sheer volume of new listeners has led us to accelerate our timetable and release Pandora Version 2 today."

I'm sorry but there's a really hollow ring to this. If everything is so hunky dory for you then why are you breaking promises and sending me a desparation email? Would it be cynical of me to suggest that you're full of BS and never got the number of subscribers you expected so now you have to stoop to this kind of tactic to peddle your wares?

"In addition to many new features (bookmarking, station editing, playlist improvements, etc.), Pandora v2.0 includes a free, ad-supported version. Listeners have the choice to subscribe and stay clear of ads, or use the free service, which will gradually incorporate advertising. What does this mean for you?  You can now come back and listen to Pandora as much as you'd like for free--and all the stations you've created remain intact."

Right, so I was only one of a multitude who balked at your paid service so now you're going the ad-supported model because even Microsoft is after endorsing that in Live and their recently leaked memos. Hmmm...

Ok, having said all that I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on this occasion but you've got to realise what a bad taste it leaves to break a promise and then try to justify it. A promise is a promise and if you couldn't keep that one then why should I trust you to keep any more? Can I trust you with my credit card details? Can I trust you when you promise not to share my email address with spammers?

And for godness sake hire a decent PR person who doesn't write such transparent claptrap which so obviously treats your (potential) customers like fools.

Comments

[Brian O'Neill]

I like pandora and actually stumped up for a paid account. I don't mind it was only 18 quid.

[James Corbett]

Brian I actually think its a brilliant service but I guess I'm not such a huge music fan as to have felt it worth it. I realize my post above is really harsh but its really because I feel they have such a terrific product that they're very foolish to stoop to that kind of tactic. I was a mistake but one I feel they will make up for easily. I've been listening to my account with them again for the last hour!

[Molly Blue]

Yes. Your post is really harsh. I think that you're not as supportive as you say you are. Show your gratitude for such a terrific product by realizing that this product is in it's infancy. It's probably going to go through many changes before it's perfect. I used the Free Trial and was impressed by the fact that they welcomed customer feedback. I'm still excited by this product and don't appreciate the attempt to slam it. Obviously, they just changed their minds about subscription based revenue vs. add revenue. Do some research, they have their users' best interests at heart.