Pandora will sit alongside the Spotify integration, giving Uber drivers and passengers more options…
Pandora has just joined forces with the taxi annihilator Uber to bring drivers and passengers a another music listening option. Starting today, the program will be available for all Uber drivers in the countries in which Pandora operates (for now that remains the US, Australia and New Zealand). The service will also be ad-free for the first six months.
For Uber, the partnership allows all drivers to access the music service whilst inside the Uber app, which makes accessing music simple and stress-free. The partnership also presents a new feature and benefit for the company to offer its drivers.
For Pandora, the deal gives the company even more exposure, which is critical at a time when the competition is heating up between music streaming services. Also, throughout the partnership the streaming service will retain the listening habits of the Uber drivers during their trips, which may present some valuable information for the company.
Uber’s partnership with Pandora presents some differing benefits to its integration with Spotify. The main difference is that in order to access Spotify the driver has to come out of their Uber app. At this point, the driver generally hands their phone to the passenger to choose from Spotify’s catalog, a major complication. With this new partnership, the driver can access the music service whilst inside the app.
That very important technical difference may see drivers opting to use Pandora over Spotify.