Mementum

Dave and I spent the last few nights on the deck meandering through a conversation on a Pandora-Facebook integration that might drive serious user growth for Pandora and revenue growth for both.

Imagine being able to like and share not only songs on Pandora, but also stations with one click.

• Digging that Grateful Dead rendition of Desolation Row? Click and send it to your Facebook stream.
• Amazed at the string of classics coming through your Elvis station? Click and send the whole station to your stream.
• Or maybe you’re a die-hard evangelist,  you want your profile to persistently show what station/song you’re rocking to. Set the permissions in both services and boomshakalaka, 24/7 Pandora and music evangelism.

That’s cool, but here’s where it gets really interesting.

Let’s take the case of sharing a station in your stream. What if each share included all this:

• The station’s past 5 songs played. Doing so would provide a full context of the station, making it easier for friends to decide if the station is for them, and thus driving sign up or engagement rates for those who click through.
• A link for existing Pandora users to instantly add the station to their list. Music listeners are always looking to re-invigorate their tunes, and if I saw one I liked I would absolutely add it.
• Links to buy the songs listed. With all these songs now getting displayed in streams, it is only natural to offer opportunities to buy immediately. Seems like an easy revenue split for Pandora and Facebook.

You could do similar strategies for those users sharing a song or persistently displaying the current song on their profile. Quick links to jump to or add the station, buy the song, or become a Pandora user.

Obviously, I’m not entirely sure what Facebook sharing environment looks like, but this sure seems like a worthwhile experiment for both parties.

Disclosure: I unabashedly love Pandora.

Update: So it’s a little hidden, but there are a few share buttons. Facebook even lets you share the song or station. Sadly, doing so requires you to let the Pandora app access all your info, which is weak. Here’s how it looks on my profile page when I shared a song:

Pretty cool that you can play a (sadly short) preview right on the profile page. Wish the links to listen were more prominent, but this is pretty cool.

Why does Lebron James have a donate button on his (obviously sponsored by Bing) site?

Seems out of place.

Update: Guess it’s for the Boys and Girls Club. That’s cool. Wish it was more than just a link to PayPal checkout, though. Many emotional drivers that could be tapping, but aren’t.