Pandora is one of the oldest music streaming platforms out there, but it’s seen a rise in competition over the last several years.

As a result, what was started as a radio built around your tastes has evolved, now providing that same blueprint for music personalization, but also providing the subscription service model as well. But, beyond that, the company has also recently launched its Podcast Genome Project, and also introduced a digital personal assistant as well.

But the company is not done offering up some unique elements to a familiar design. Announced on Tuesday, Pandora is launching what it calls “Stories” for both paid subscribers and free listeners. With this new feature, listeners can actually hear intimate interludes between tracks from a variety of different artists. The musicians will be sharing stories about the tracks listeners are hearing, giving a behind-the-scenes look at the process that went into the music.

“The first collection of Pandora Stories features John Legend, Daddy Yankee, Lauren Alaina, Perry Farrell, Wes Anderson music supervisor Randall Poster, Amy Winehouse collaborator and Dap-Kings guitarist Tommy Brenneck, and a Pandora-hosted story exploring “Love Songs That Really Aren’t Love Songs,” with forthcoming stories from 2 Chainz, Rob Thomas and many more.”

Pandora will be adding new artists along the way from this point on. And Pandora Stories isn’t just a wide-spread new feature that will crop up when you’re listening to your own playlists. Instead, it’s a dedicated playlist of its own. For fans of music who like to know bits and pieces of how a song was made, this is definitely a nice addition.

Pandora says folks who are paying the monthly subscription cost won’t have to listen to any ads, which isn’t a surprise. However, customers on the free-tier and those using Pandora Plus will need to listen to a 30-second ad before they can jump in. After watching that ad, though, listeners will “unlock a Premium listening session”. so there shouldn’t be any additional interruptions.

The new playlist is now live.

What do you think of this? It’s a bit like Beats 1’s interviews with artists, but mixed in with the actual music itself.

[via Pandora]








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