Pandora (P) Ups Its Game, Brings Questlove For A New Show

Pandora Media, Inc. (NYSE:P) recently clinched a partnership with famed artist, Questlove aka Ahmir Khalib Thompson for a new show called “Questlove Supreme”.

Questlove is one of the most respected figures in the music industry. This four-time GRAMMY winner is best known for being the Roots drummer and the music director of Stephen Colbert's “Tonight Show”.

The three-hour weekly radio show will debut on Sep 7. Questlove station is already live on the Pandora platform and users can listen to the previews. Questlove will be curating and producing the show himself but will host guest artists like Maya Rudolph, Bob Power and Kimbra. Pandora revealed that the show will be designed to mirror the feel of Questlove’s music courses at the New York University.

There is more to the Questlove and Pandora partnership. Questlove will also be taking up the role of Pandora's strategic advisor and its first artist ambassador.

This partnership is an important step for Pandora as it strives to solidify its place in the music streaming industry amid cut-throat competition from peers like Spotify, Tidal, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) . In the past, both Spotify and Apple have collaborated with well-known artists to endorse their services.

Pandora CEO Tim Westergren said "His near encyclopedic knowledge of the theory and history of music and his abiding passion for supporting artists of all kinds is a perfect match for our mission. We're thrilled to have his expertise and counsel, and to share his talents, insights and love of music with our over 78 million listeners."

Pandora, which is yet to report profits, has been struggling to post a turnaround while staying independent. The company has been taking a number of initiatives to differentiate its offerings from peers. Recently, it was reported that the Internet radio provider will be rolling out its on-demand music streaming service as soon as next month. This is alongside the company’s plans of making its service available internationally.

Currently, Pandora carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the same space is MeetMe, Inc. (NASDAQ:MEET) , which has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).