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What is Pandora?
Pandora is known to us as the world’s best free internet radio, offering high-end personalization. Music services like Pandora have gained huge audience and revenues in the past years. The US market alone accounted for $2.4 billion in revenue for Pandora in 2016. This was, in fact, the third of the total revenue that the US music industry enjoyed. The Pandora music app has irrefutably made the competition more grueling and every other music service wants a piece of the huge market. New entrants include a range of services, right from the Silicon Valley startups to established music businesses like Spotify. So, what do you need to do to have your own version of Pandora radio app? How much will it cost to create something similar and as immersive? Let’s take a look at how radio apps are made and how much they cost.
Source: Apple App Store
Proceed with an advantage
Just adding another radio app to the app stores that tries to imitate Pandora can enhance your own portfolio but there’s no guarantee that it would be a success. So, before plunging head first into the development, you need to come up with something special. Just another radio app wouldn’t be enough to get ahead of the huge competition that already exists. It could be a clever music selection idea that you have or a revolutionary algorithm for compression, just like the Pied Piper guys did. Whatever it is, it should be different and give potential users a reason to look beyond Pandora.
Gauging the competition
Another important consideration before you start would be the market competition. While the Pandora music app is the biggest name in internet radio (at least in the US), there have been other players who have made a mark. They include top Pandora alternatives like:
- Spotify (Best Pandora Alternative) – offering more than 20 million songs, Spotify today has 100+ million users, a third of whom have paid subscription. Spotify is compatible with iOS, Android and even works on desktop and is offered across the globe.
- iHeartRadio (One of the best Pandora Alternatives) – Bob Pitman had an idea of aggregating all radio stations across the US into a single platform called the iHeartRadio. It allows for listening to as many as 800 stations, based on user preferences.
- LAST.FM (Popular Alternative to Pandora) – Launched in 2002, LAST.FM is another giant in the internet radio business, with more than 10 million active users daily. Apart from music, the platform also streams event concerts, articles, and accounts.
- Deezer – With more than 40 million songs in its repository, Deezer is available in 180+ countries and 14+ million active users and 56 million tracks and 100m million playlists. Deezer also offers an option for integrating LAST.FM.
How to Build Music Apps like Pandora?
Technical points you need to consider before building a Pandora radio app:
- Licence
- Streaming
- Design
- Monetization strategy
- Recommendation engine
What are the important features of the Pandora radio app?
- Registration
- Playlists
- Search engine
- Social sharing
- Likes/dislikes
Monetizing your business model
Apart from your love for music, you will also be looking to make a bit of money with your own internet radio app. This is when you should be thinking about things like:
- Paid features would be there in a user’s account
- How intrusive would the advertising be?
- What’s your idea to encourage full access?
- Will it be just an internet radio or an online music library as well?
- What would be the options for social integration?
The best way to decide upon these is to go through your competitor’s business model. Spend time understanding the top services in your industry. It is necessary to understand what makes consumers fall in love with the Pandora radio app.
Music buying
If you are thinking of developing your own music app like Pandora, you must already be aware of what happened to Napster. As obvious, musicians and music labels hate when music is offered for free. It’s an intellectual product you are selling and to make a full-fledged music app, you need loads of licenses. While some tracks can always be found in free sources, you should also try to focus on independent labels that will allow hearing music for free or at a minimal charge. A range of agreements can be met if you have got the right negotiation skills. There are also legal roads to take. Remember, that sourcing your music, the raw material for your app, would be the biggest investment you would be making.
App Development Costs
The nature of your app will depend on the kind of services you are looking to provide. Development is easy once you have been able to come up with a blueprint. However, it is a must to have a multi-platform app if you are looking to make a mark and reach out to the maximum number of users. Development costs will also include periodical updates, testing, and space. The average app development costs between $20 and $250 an hour, depending on the complexity of the project. Outsourcing will make things cheaper. Everything combined; putting a music app like Pandora together should come to about $50,000, in just development costs.
The music business is highly rewarding if you have been able to come up with something unique. While it will require a lot of brainstorming, perseverance, resources and creativity, it is worth the effort.
Need Help to Build a Music App like Pandora?
Konstant Infosolutions is a leading app development company, offering services across different mobile app platforms.
Send us your requirements at sales@konstantinfo.com or fill-up the form and we will contact you soon to help you with a custom quote for a music app like Pandora.