Pandora and the Music Genome

Pandora is not the only internet radio service available, but it may well be the most interesting. Pandora is based on the 8-year-old Music Genome project, which has spent all that time deciphering and encoding the characteristics of thousands of songs for your musical pleasure.

You might call this a left-brain approach to musical discovery -- the idea of tediously analyzing music so that you can find other songs that theoretically resemble the songs that you like.

The ultimate test, of course, is does it work? It works for me. I can create a personalized radio station, for example, with no vocals, with the right timbres and the right energy such that it puts me in the mood for doing work, without distracting me.

For some folks, I suppose, this is all a bit wonkish. It may be that the social aspect of musical discovery is indispensible, for some. After all, no amount of analysis can determine whether a song is good, and it may be that for some people music has to become good through a shared experience.

Today I'm introducing a new Mainstream Guide on Pandora, and I will follow up very soon with another internet radio service which emphasizes the social aspect of musical discovery.