Pandora & the future of Internet radio.

Take a few moments to consider your favorite music. How did you discover it? Was it through a radio single? Maybe a recommendation from a friend or an impulse purchase at your local record store? Now think about how frighteningly arbitrary this is – there are literally hundreds of obscure artists you might love if only you had a more reliable way to find them.

Two weeks ago, Tim Westergren came to Charlottesville's Gravity Lounge to discuss his answer to this problem – Pandora radio.

"This is the perfect venue for a small concert," said Westergren, a former musician and film composer, as he took the stage in front of about 30 listeners. "I would have loved to have played here."

Pandora is part of the Music Genome Project, a huge database housing detailed characteristics for almost half a million songs. It takes more than 400 musical attributes into consideration, such as melody, harmony, rhythm, vocals and structure, when categorizing a track. In fact, there are so many factors that it can take half an hour to analyze one single piece.

"The genome grows by about 15,000 songs a month," Westergren said, acknowledging the relatively slow pace by which the site's music catalogue expands. However, he stressed quality over quantity – it's better to have a handful of excellent tracks than to dilute the system with a vast collection of mediocre music.

Recommendations on Pandora radio are directly linked to the genome's database. Users input an artist or song that they like, then the genome is searched for similar music. Results are eclectic and purposefully so. Pandora's aim is to refine the perceptions of what we like in music. If Pandora's recommendations are off, users are given the ability to tweak their station to better fit their tastes through a simple "thumbs up / thumbs down" system. If a song gets a thumbs up, the radio station will play more songs that share those genome traits. If a song gets a thumbs down, it will be banned from the station, and its genome's traits will be downplayed in future radio choices. Users can customize up to 100 stations in this manner.

"Of course, Pandora doesn't factor popularity into the music it chooses," Westergren explained, pointing out one of Pandora's key advantages. Songs are selected solely based on their genome properties. Thus, a station serves as an equal platform for all music. This is great news for independent artists. In an industry driven by top-40 radio, unsigned and independent musicians can be like needles in a haystack.

In fact, more than 70 percent of the musicians on Pandora are not signed to a major label. During the meeting, Westergren laughed as he described the albums he receives that are simply CD-R's with Post-It notes.

"But that's what it's all about – getting this music heard when you wouldn't be able to find it otherwise," he said.

Pandora has definitely made waves in the music industry, with both big and indie labels.

"One out of 10 people logging onto the Pandora service end up buying new albums," Westergren said. Smaller artists have also reported significant increases in their iTunes sales after submitting tracks to the genome.

The genome system is not the only thing that might attract you to Pandora. For example, the interface is one of the Web's finest. It is sleek and simple – simply enter your music and start hearing the results.

"Another one of the best things about Pandora is its portability," Westergren said, pointing out that you can log onto any computer and your stations will be waiting for you. With an increase in public hotspots and wireless MP3 players in development, this could be a powerful asset for Web-based radio.

So what's next for Pandora? Charlottesville's staunchest fans brought several suggestions to the meeting. Some of the more interesting ideas included tuning the genome to emotional content or adding forums so users can discuss new music with one another. Westergren, ever devoted to giving exposure to new musicians, offered his own idea – "I'd like Pandora to give little alerts when a recommended artist is playing a gig nearby." The company is also looking into expanding to meet the needs of the international market. At the moment, station content is only licensed for U.S. users.

It's obvious Pandora has a rich future, but can it level the musical playing field? If nothing else, Westergren is confident that those who use his service will find music they love and would not have found otherwise. He also urges us to keep an open mind: "If Céline Dion comes up on your station, then we hope to convince that you actually like Céline Dion."

Ethan

Originally published for the Cavalier Daily:
http://www.cavalierdaily.com/news/2006/sep/28/dont-look-just-listen-pandoras-web-radio/