Sony BMG is first major label to sign up to Pandora in UK

Sony BMG is the first UK major record label to license its artists' repertoire to internet radio service Pandora in exchange for a slice of ad revenue.

Pandora, which has taken the US by storm since its launch last year, is due to roll out to UK customers by next spring. It will offer free streaming tracks from Sony BMG acts including George Michael and Shakira.

The free radio station is based on the Music Genome Product, the largest ever analysis of popular music. Each song in Pandora is analysed by one of 50 trained musicians and assessed against some 400 musical attributes to capture the song's identity.

Users of Pandora enter the name of their favourite song or artist and the service creates a bespoke radio station matching their musical tastes.

Pandora is in talks with the other major labels, EMI, Universal Music and Warner Music.

Brands that regularly advertise on Pandora in the US include T-Mobile and Motorola. The UK Pandora team is currently signing up UK advertisers.

Jon Davis, head of new media at Sony BMG, said, "This deal will stimulate interest in our back catalogue. Pandora can offer highly targeted ads that we can take a percentage of."

pandora.com