Pandora's Success Story

A recent New York Times http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/magazine/18Pandora-t.html?_r=3&th=&emc=th&pagewanted=all article profiled the story of Pandora. In addition to a lengthy overview of how Pandora's music recommendation system, "The Music Genome," was created and how it continues to operate, the article detailed the success of the service. Pandora was already an up-and-coming star in the music world, but its iPhone app has taken it to another level. As of mid October, Pandora counted:

• 35 millions total listeners
• 65,000 new subscribers each day (more than half from mobile users)
• 75 companies as potential partners, embedding Pandora into a variety of widgets and websites

Now all that's left is the small matter of turning a profit. According to founder, Tim Westergren, Pandora expects to turn a profit in the 4th quarter. If so, it would make it one of the few advertising-driven music services to do so.