Pandora sticks out from other streaming services because it's completely free, but with that users are forced to sit through ads and are unable to pick which specific content they are going to listen to. That being said, listeners are able to up-vote and down-vote different songs to create a more personalized listening experience based off the sites algorithms, which is what keeps users coming back after using the service for so long. The site also doesn't require accounts to be made by users unless they want to, so those using it on their mobile device can have a completely different experience from one they have on their computer. Pandora has become so popular because it allows its' users to not pay while still getting to listen to as much content as they want, but the artists are not seeing the direct results of this. The artists themselves are only being paid 45% of the royalties being earned annually, which for some artists could still be in the hundreds of thousands, like Rascal Flats and Adele, but lesser known artists that aren't going to have popular Pandora stations are not going to be able to make a sustainable income based off this income. The service, unlike Spotify and Tidal, is only available in three countries (The United States, Australia, and New Zealand), which considering the number of users the site attracts (upwards of 250 million registered users as of 2014) is astonishing compared to the numbers the other two sites have based on the number of countries they are in. With Pandora being free for all users though, this is understandable, and sheds light onto the idea that listeners would rather sit through ads than pay for music (at least in the three mentioned countries).