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Last updated: Thursday, January 14, 2010

Tim Westergren doesn’t have to beat the drum as loudly anymore. Thanks to the popularity of the iPhone and other smartphones, listenership has quadrupled since 2008 at Pandora, the free online radio service he founded. The private company just had its first profitable quarter and brought in about $40 million in revenue last year. It expects even more growth this year. Not bad, considering that two years ago Pandora was on the verge of shutting down over new copyright royalties that threatened to bankrupt it before a settlement was reached. As Pandora’s chief strategy officer, Westergren spent last week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas showing off Pandora on TVs, Blu-ray players, clock radios, car audio systems, TV set-top boxes and other devices. Ford Motor will feature a Pandora app in its next-generation Sync in-car communication system. A Web-connected clock radio from Sony, the $200 Dash, lets you wake up to the time, weather — and, if you like, your personalized radio station from Pandora. Samsung, LG and Vizio all will be rolling out TVs with built-in access to Pandora. “We’re getting to participate in a much bigger arena, which is anytime, anywhere,” says Westergren, 44. Pandora is morphing into a full-featured radio service available to all, not just computer users, Westergren says. “Broadcast radio’s genius a long time ago was, ‘Let’s get into the car, into the home, on clock radios.’ We want to do the same thing with Net radio, and that’s happened.” After years of struggle to find an audience, Internet radio is finally coming of age as it expands to cell phones, TVs and other devices. Apple’s iTunes dominates the market for digital downloads, but with 43 million registered users and an average 20 million listening monthly, many people are turning to Pandora — the largest source of online music listening…

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Pandora Online Radio Service Scores a Hit

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