You can now sample Pandora Premium for free by watching ads

Pandora is giving users the chance to sample its Premium service for free by watching ads. A 15-second clip will unlock the full Pandora Premium experience for a limited amount of time, giving listeners the option to queue tracks, build playlists, and more.

Pandora Premium is priced at $9.99 a month, and until now, you had to pay that to listen to any song you wanted — and to unlock other features like curated playlists. But Pandora is trialing a new system that gives free users the chance to get a taste of premium by watching an ad.

You’ll be prompted to view an ad when you attempt to play a track you’ve searched for. After watching it, you’ll enjoy Pandora Premium temporarily. Pandora hasn’t yet decided how long the Premium experience will last for — it is still being tested — but promises it will be for more than just one song.

After trialing Pandora Premium, free users could be persuaded to upgrade and fork out the $9.99 monthly fee. However, Pandora chief Chris Phillips insists that’s not what the trial was designed for. Pandora wants both the free and paid tiers to grow, Phillips told Engadget.

The temporary trial is only available to mobile users for now since that’s where 85 percent of Pandora usage comes from. It’s still not possible to access Pandora Premium on the web, but Phillips says a web app and an updated tablet app are in the pipeline.

If you don’t already have Pandora installed on your Android device, tap the button below to download it from Google Play.