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May 09, 2006
the future of radio
is Pandora or something similiar. I am SO fascinated with this creation...an offshoot of the Music Genome Project, which catalogs music by particular characteristics, creating a method to better map and match like music. As you tell Pandora what you like and don't like, it learns to associate different characteristics and eventually, voila! And with just very minor tweaking, you have a cool radio station that has completely tailored itself to something you would like, even if you have never heard the music before.
WOW. That's amazing. A station that will play only what you like? Even if you haven't heard the music before? Very seriously powerful. And even more amazing...I am discovering music I would NEVER have ever discovered. Discovering music that I like...and would be very willing (and will very probably be doing) to buy because I'm hearing a way cool band I would never have known I would like except that Pandora has tailored itself to what I like! Nearly ten years ago, I did marketing for a company that was touting intelligent agent technology that personalized web apps much like how Pandora does with its stations. Its amazing to me that only now are companies starting to understand what real personalization is--and its still in fits and starts. Pandora is the closest I've seen to accomplishing what I think of as personalization and wow is it amazing.
You can create a variety of radio stations (recommended because mixing songs from wide genres doesn't give you good results). I have a popular alternative rock station, a more poppy 80ish sort of station, a chill out station, an electronica station and a loungey, jazzy, french pop sort of station. You can check out my latest favorites on the left.
This type of radio will bode well for bands who may never otherwise be able to reach out to the people who would truly enjoy their music. Even more interesting, it makes finding the music ABOUT the music--you are searching for characteristics of music that you would like and so therefore advertising is taken out of the equation. Artists without huge monetary resources for major marketing campaigns are suddenly on the same playing field as Madonna or U2. It's really amazing.
I honestly think that this sort of technology and categorization could drastically change how we listen to and discover music. Very very exciting. I can't wait to see how this evolves.
Posted by crystallyn at May 9, 2006 07:16 PM
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Comments
I've got yahoo's music station pretty well-trained for my tastes: sadly, it only works in IE:
http://launch.yahoo.com/launchcast/station.asp?u=1216262514
Posted by: Ancarett at May 9, 2006 06:16 PM
Isn't it fantastic! A friend of mine introduced me to Pandora last year and the technology is amazing, although some of the recommendations aren't quite what I expected. The technology reminds me of the MIT researchers who created a program that analyzes pop music and can predict how people will react to it. Technology playing psychic is scary but I agree with you, it's fascinating!
You sound well and I'm glad the weather has been nice enough for you to enjoy your daily jog!
Posted by: Angela at May 10, 2006 12:00 PM
last.fm is a similar site that I find superior to pandora.com. Check it out!
Posted by: Eric at October 17, 2006 02:34 AM