When I was about 28, a band I was in drove 1,098 miles from San Francisco to Telluride, Colorado to play a club gig. It was our first trip to the state and we were excited to be on the road. We arrived just a few hours before soundcheck, and we spent that time putting flyers on telephone polls and walking around town spreading the word, passing out printed invitations. About 15 people showed up for the gig.
We didn’t really know any better at the time. We figured that’s what working bands do. You pay your dues, play tons of shows, drive thousands of miles and hope you build some buzz and catch a break. Some of the bands we played with went on to successful careers. But most, like us, eventually threw in the towel. We moved on for the same reason most working artists do; we had no platform to get large-scale exposure.
Solving this problem has always been one of the great promises of the web, and it is a founding mission of Pandora. Our goal is to connect artists with fans who will love their music. And now, almost 10 years in, we are at a scale where we can begin to really make a difference.
More than 76 million listeners tune in on average for well over 20 hours per month to listen to their favorite musicians. We have 125,000-plus artists playing on Pandora, and 11,900 of them have over 100,000 unique listeners that have thumbed up their music. That audience and engagement presents a great opportunity for artists, and that’s why we’re so excited to launch our artist marketing platform, AMP.
With AMP, we hope to make the day in and day out easier for artists by eliminating the guesswork. From finding out what songs are performing well to inform singles or set lists, to mapping where an artist’s fan base is to inform tour schedules, our ultimate goal is to help artists across the spectrum build and maintain their careers.
We’re just getting started, but we have a strong vision for where this can lead and are excited to watch it take shape.
