Anyone who has gone to business and marketing school is well versed in the 4 Ps of marketing: product, price, place and promotion. The model was considered a form of control, both simple and informative. Companies market to consumers. Products are created based on their value, features defined, prices are set and market areas selected for sale. The company's products and services are promoted through advertising programs, public relations, direct marketing and other similar forms of meeting the public. Ultimately, the company controls the message. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original EssayEvery business now competes in two worlds: a physical world (market) and a digital world (“market space”). The future is here and most products and services are now sold in the market (Tapscott, 2000). Pandora Radio has launched a music project that encompasses all the 4Ps of marketing and offers a bird's eye view on understanding the marketing mix. History of Pandora Radio A new music discovery project was launched in 2000. Tim Westergren founded the Music Genome Project with the idea of ​​approaching and analyzing music analytically. The project analyzes the structure of a song and identifies similar songs that the listener might also like. Westergrens' original company was called Savage Beast. The concept created a database that took five years and used over 30 music theory experts. In 2006, their library contained over 400,000 analyzed songs from 20,000 contemporary artists (Joyce, 2006). Pandora Radio has expanded to become the included radio app on nearly every app-enabled device. In 2010, the radio app was integrated into TV devices such as Samsung, Sony, Roku and others. An increasing number of tablets like BlackBerry and Barnes & Nobel have started to implement the app and even car apps with BMW/Mini, Toyota, Ford and Hyundai. There was even a Wi-Fi enabled refrigerator from Samsung (Hampp, 2011). Founder Tim Westergren said, “Smartphones really turned Pandora into an anytime, anywhere service, without us doing anything.” The company grew from 40 million to 75 million users in the span of 12 months in 2010. During this time, Pandora had more than 40 strategic content partners on more than 400 different devices, and this was considered just the beginning (Hampp, 2011 ). While the company was in a phase of exponential growth, it became one of the most powerful music discovery platforms. Pandora achieved this by connecting artists and fans across numerous devices. The history of Pandora Music has had a considerable impact on the music industry. Now that it is on track, the company needs to develop the next area of ​​the 4Ps; prices. Pricing Pricing strategies are a vital marketing function for both short- and long-term profit. Pandora Radio's media discovery platform competes with lines from major companies such as Apple Inc., Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, Amazon.com and Spotify. In 2016, Pandora added Ticketfly, a ticket distribution service that would target local concerts based on the user's musical preferences. In 2017, the company added premium Pandora allowing users to specify songs to play instead by creating a station with a limited number of skips. They have also increased the number of skips with ads and now offer offline access. According to The Motley Fool, in 2016 Pandora had around 78 million active users and by 2020 they aim to increase that number to 110 million. Advertising revenue per 1000 hours of listening in 2016 isamounted to 58 million dollars. In 2018, 2019 and 2020 their revenue is expected to increase to $60, 70 and 80 million, respectively. Below is a consolidated view of the company's business model for 2020 (DiPietro, 2017): Metrics (in millions of dollars) Core Radio Premium Ticketing Consolidated Revenue $2,400 $1,300 $300 $4,000 Content Costs $1,160 $ 850 N/A $2,010 Ticketing Costs N/A/A $180 $180 Other Costs of Revenue $115 $15 N/A $130 Gross Margin 47% 34% 40% 42% Operating Margin 18% 10% 15% 15% According to Reuters.com, revenues and earnings per share for Pandora Media in 2016 were $392.6 million, and in 2017; $395.33 million. Although Pandora Media has faced increased competition and a decline in users in recent years, their business plan focuses on new ways to target their customers and hopefully meet their 2020 goals. Place The term “marketing mix ” was coined by Neil Borden. The “mix” constitutes the fundamental elements that make up the 4 Ps of marketing perfected by E. Jerome McCarthy (PurleyBranded.com, 2018). When combined, the 4Ps promote Pandora's unique strengths and differentiate it from the competition. The next “P” of marketing is promotion. Promotion includes elements such as advertising, social media marketing, search engine marketing, public relations, email marketing, and video marketing. The Pandora brand must be well positioned to truly maximize return on investment. In 2015, 10 years after the launch of Pandora, the company launches its largest brand marketing effort yet. The multi-channel campaign was used to further separate it from competitors such as iHeartRadio, Spotify and Apple Music. Then-CMO Simon Fleming-Wood says the company is finally at a point where it has the ability to invest in marketing. This was driven by 67% revenue growth from local advertising revenues. The closest campaign Pandora previously had to a brand campaign was the digital-only "Thumbs Moments." Pandora begins its new campaign by running a video ad online and then moves to TV. The addition promotes the slogan "The Next Song Matters" which celebrates the anticipation of knowing what song comes next. Fleming-Wood manages 5 teams; a growth and analytical marketing team; a business development team, focused on "getting us into cars and the next generation of places where music listening will take place" and Pandora One, its subscription business. He also oversees a PR and communications team. In its first year, they launched a campaign called “Now Playing,” used to measure impact across different loyalty segments. This led to “Thumbs Up” and “The Next Song Matters” (Rooney, 2015). In recent years, after the exit of Fleming-Wood and the entry of the previous owner and CEO, Tom Westergren, the company, in addition to its traditional Internet service, has expanded its services through applications for mobile device users including Apple's iPhone and iPad, Blackberry and Google's Android operating software. Pandora uses display ads on its landing pages and has launched a program that allows advertisers to sponsor free streaming of new albums before they are released, with custom banner landing pages, banner ads, and an advertiser-branded radio station . Pandora has also invested in helping artists connect with their fans. They introduced AMP (Artist Marketing Program) with audio messages from artists in early 2015 and AMPcast in early 2016. The program allows artists to collect data and performance parameters and gives them the ability to geolocate their, 2017).