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# Pandora Limits Users To 40 Hours Per Month
- URL: https://www.hypebot.com/pandora-limits-users-to-40-hours-per-month/
- Published: 2009-07-08T12:50:51.000Z
- Updated: 2009-07-08T12:50:51.000Z
- Description: Yesterday, webcasters reached a settlement with SoundExchange that saw rates rise, but not to the stratospheric levels feared. Most involved praised the agreement; Pandora among them. To help absorb the. Continue reading [https://www.hypebot.com/hypebot/2009/07/pandora-limits-users-to-40-hours-per-
- Author: Bruce Houghton
- Tags: Streaming, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2026-01-21 11:03

Yesterday, [webcasters reached a settlement](https://www.hypebot.com/pandora-other-webcasters-reach-royalty-deal/) with SoundExchange that saw rates rise, but not to the stratospheric levels feared. Most involved praised the agreement; Pandora among them. To help absorb the higher costs, Pandora will cap listeners at 40 a month unless they pay 99 cents to unlock the service for the remainder of the month. From their [blog](http://blog.pandora.com/pandora/archives/2009/07/important%5Fupdat%5F1.html?ref=hypebot.com):

[![Pandora poster](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e2011570e645f2970c-100wi)](http://hypebot.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451b36c69e2011570e645f2970c-pi?ref=hypebot.com) The revised royalties are quite high – higher in fact than any other form of radio. As a consequence, we will have to make an adjustment that will affect about 10% of our users who are our heaviest listeners. Specifically, we are going to begin **limiting listening to 40 hours per month** on the free version of Pandora. 

  
In any given month, a listener who hits this limit can then **opt for unlimited listening for the remainder of that month for just $0.99**. In essence, we're asking our heaviest users to put a dollar (well, almost a dollar) in the tip jar in any month in which they listen over 40 hours. We hope this is relatively painless and affordable–the same price as a single song download. (Alternatively, they can **upgrade to "Pandora One"**, our premium version which offers unlimited monthly listening in addition to its other benefits).