Spotify, Pandora go head to head music’s newest battle

WASHINGTON – The biggest dispute in online music used to be between record companies and websites that let users pirate music.

But that’s so 2000.

These days, the companies that legally offer music are fighting. And, right now, the big player is Pandora.

Pandora lets listeners choose an artist or genre to hear similar music for the price of listening to a few ads. Last year Pandora earned $274,000,000 in revenue.

But now subscription services are nipping at Pandora’s heels. With Spotify, listeners can play whatever they want for a monthly fee. It’s hoping to increase its exposure with a feature that lets users log-in with their Facebook accounts.

WTOP’s Nathan Hager contributed to this report. Follow Nathan and WTOP on Twitter.

(Copyright 2012 by WTOP. All Rights Reserved.)

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