In the age of Spotify and iTunes, when we are given more control over what we listen to than ever before, the popularity of Internet radio service Pandora tells me one thing: people still like to be surprised, and they like to discover new things. They simply don’t want to listen to the same stuff over and over again. Radio might seem passé, but Pandora proves that the idea behind it is probably timeless.

The service has definitely hit a chord with the public, as Pandora announced Tuesday that it has reached 200 million users in the United States. Most impressively, the service, which first launched in 2005, had 100 million users in 2011, meaning it doubled its userbase in two years, after taking six years to get the first 100 million. And, of those 200 million users, 140 million of them use Pandora on a mobile device.

Pandora also released an infographic with some other impressive stats, including: 

  • Pandora now streams 200 million songs before 10 a.m. every single day.
  • Listeners have personalized their stations with more than 25 billion thumbs.
  • Last month, Pandora played more than 100,000 unique artists and more than 1 million unique songs. The vast majority of that music got no other terrestrial radio airplay.
  • More than1.49 billion hours of music were streamed in March.

“We started this company to help people discover and enjoy music they love, and to help artists reach and grow their audiences. Only in our wildest dreams did we imagine what it would become. It is now clear that radio is changing, and that’s great news for music fans and for the tens of thousands of working artists who now have a home on the air,” Pandora Founder Tim Westergren said in a statement.

Recent Pandora news 

Almost one month ago exactly, Pandora CEO Joseph Kennedy announced his resignation following the release of Pandora’s better than expected Q4 2012 earnings.  

The company had a narrower than expected loss of $0.04 per share, beating analysts’ expectations of $0.05 per share. Revenue also beat expectations with $125.1 million for the quarter, a 54% increase over the same quarter last year. Wall Street had pegged revenue at $122.8 million.

Total revenue for 2012 was $427.1 million, of which $255.9 million was mobile revenue.

In a statement, Kennedy did not give a specific reason for leaving, but seemed to indicate that he simply accomplished all he wanted to at the company. 

“As I near the start of my tenth year at the helm of Pandora, I am incredibly proud of the team and what we have accomplished in redefining radio. As part of our Board discussions of the road that lies ahead, I reached the conclusion and advised the Board that the time is right to begin a process to identify my successor,” Kennedy said in a statement. “There is a tremendous market opportunity ahead and I look forward to continuing to work with all the great people at Pandora to keep driving the business forward.”

Kennedy had taken over the role of CEO from founder Tim Westergren in July 2004 and led the company through its highly successful IPO

Pandora shares are currently down 0.31% to $12.84 a share.

Here is the infographic put together by Pandora, with even more stats on where the company is now:

(Image source: http://www.thatericalper.com)

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