Pandora Submissions

[danika]

Does anybody here have experience with submitting songs to Pandora? Do they provide any statistical info as far as number of plays?

 

According to their FAQ they only accept two songs and only if you have a physical CD for sale on Amazon. Although Amazon has made it easier for indie artists to sell CD's, I'm not sure it's worth the investment for me to have CD's manufactured if it's only to gain access to Pandora. I've never done well selling physical CD's but have had some success with digital downloads.

 

http://help.pandora.com/customer/portal/articles/24802-information-for-artists-submitting-to-pandora

[Dancebass]

I am going to say all of this in the hypothetical. You can believe it, or chose not to believe it.

 

Payola is a practice that has been regulated through legislation in many countries. The wording of this legislation is normally limited to broadcast media only. Legislation rarely evolves at the same speed as technology. Sometimes this leaves a gap between what is technically "legal" and what is simply "unregulated". When a gap such as this is created it doesn't take long for people to begin to exploit it.

 

For example, gambling in Florida is largely illegal. However 12 miles off the coast you enter international waters and Florida law no longer exists. That's why people have gambling boats all over Florida that are very lucrative.

 

So for our purposes let's pretend I have a very popular new radio station that is located 12 miles off the coast of Florida and is not regulated by anti-payola legislation. Of course publicly I will advertise how everyone can go about being added to our rotation and I will make it very fair and happyface so everyone will like me.

 

However if you wish to have us place your product in a way that will provide you with the promotional boost you are hoping to obtain, such as having your songs placed into rotation with well known acts in the same genre, well we are going to have to do lunch. Have your people call my people.

[3shiftgtr]

this^^^^

[niceguy]

 

Does anybody here have experience with submitting songs to Pandora? Do they provide any statistical info as far as number of plays? According to their FAQ they only accept two songs and only if you have a physical CD for sale on Amazon. Although Amazon has made it easier for indie artists to sell CD's, I'm not sure it's worth the investment for me to have CD's manufactured if it's only to gain access to Pandora. I've never done well selling physical CD's but have had some success with digital downloads. http://help.pandora.com/customer/portal/articles/24802-information-for-artists-submitting-to-pandora

 

 

If you release music through TuneCore, you can get your album available at Amazon for "on demand" CD printing. That's all you need in order to submit to Pandora. You don't need a stock of CD's ready to sell.

 

That being said, Pandora is very similar to Clear Channel these days. Their playlists are restricted; they don't want to take chances on new music, because new music alienates the morons who just want to hear Taylor Swift, Rhianna, and Jay-Z and nothing else.

 

Of course, Pandora then creates the top-down illusion of popularity. "Oh, this is on Pandora? Then it must be AWESOME!" Meaning, Pandora is telling the people what's popular; the people aren't telling Pandora what's popular.

 

But hey, money talks.