Get your music on Pandora

How music gets onto Pandora

Pandora, owned by SiriusXM, is known for radio stations built from a single song or artist. Most people listen free with ads. Pandora Plus adds ad-free stations, more skips and replays, and offline listening; Pandora Premium adds what most streaming services do — searching and playing any song on demand, and building playlists.

Pandora no longer runs its own submission portal for artists. It takes music from distributors and labels, and its help pages set two conditions for a release to be on Pandora:

• Pandora was selected when the release was distributed
• US streaming rights were granted to Pandora

The first is a tick on your release. The second is your territories: Pandora operates in the United States only, so a release with the US excluded never reaches it. If Pandora is the reason you are ticking the store, check the US is in.

The Music Genome Project: how songs reach stations

Being in Pandora's catalogue and being played on its stations are not quite the same thing. Pandora's stations are built by its Music Genome Project, whose analysts describe each track with up to 450 musicological attributes. Those attributes are what let Pandora place your song on stations next to similar artists and tracks, and let listeners start a station from your name or one of your songs.

Pandora links the two through its artist tool: once you claim your profile in Pandora AMP, its creator support team makes sure your music is analysed by the Music Genome Project team so it can play on Pandora radio stations. That makes claiming AMP the most useful thing you can do after a release goes live on Pandora.

Pandora AMP

AMP — Pandora's Artist Marketing Platform — is its set of tools for artists and the label and management teams who work directly with them. You claim your profile at amp.pandora.com/claim; Pandora says verification generally takes no longer than a couple of days, longer if it asks for documents. You do not have to live in the US to use it.

• Artist Audio Messages — short recordings that play when listeners start your station or before or after your songs; promotional or personal
• Featured Tracks — more spins for one track across Pandora stations for up to eight weeks
• Catalogue data — streams, radio spins, interactive plays, station adds and thumbs up for each track, with daily trends
• AMPcast — record short audio messages in the Pandora iOS app and send them to your fans

Featured Tracks: the rules

A track can be featured if it was added to Pandora within the last 365 days, is already getting at least 10 spins a week on Pandora radio stations, and has not been featured before. So it is a tool for a song that has started to move, not for release day. Plan which song you want to push in the weeks after it goes live.

Releasing on Pandora, step by step

1. Apply and set up your artistAccounts are opened by application — tell us about your music and we usually have you ready within one working day.
2. Add the release detailsTitle, artists, genre, release date — and territories. Pandora needs the United States.
3. Upload artwork and audioSquare artwork of at least 2400 × 2400 px (3000 × 3000 is ideal) and lossless WAV, FLAC or AIFF. Both are checked on upload.
4. Pick Pandora and the other storesEvery plan includes every store at no extra charge. We deliver approved releases within 24 hours; how fast Pandora publishes is up to Pandora.
5. Claim AMPOnce the release is live, claim your profile so the music is analysed for stations, then record an Artist Audio Message.

Set your release date two to three weeks ahead so Pandora goes live on the same day as every other store.

How Pandora pays you

Pandora pays from its advertising and subscription income. Your plays come in two kinds, which AMP shows separately: radio spins on stations, and interactive plays when a Premium listener chooses your song. Both are reported back to us; there is no fixed amount per play, and we do not quote one.

Stores report in arrears — most about two months after the month the plays happened. Pandora's earnings land in your TempoDigital wallet in US dollars, and above $70 you can withdraw by Payoneer, PayPal, Wise or bank transfer.

Mistakes that keep music off Pandora

• Leaving the US out. Pandora is US-only; without US rights the release is not there at all.
• Never claiming AMP. It is how Pandora makes sure your music is analysed for stations.
• Saving Featured Tracks for release day. A track needs 10 spins a week first, and each track can be featured once.
• Expecting listeners abroad. Fans outside the US cannot use Pandora; they hear you on Spotify, Apple Music and the rest.