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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

Pause with the founder of Pandora

Inside called Tim Westergren, founder and chief strategist of Pandora online radio. The Stanford alumnus immediately identified IU for its music school. Thank you.

Why is choice such a big deal?

People want to hear more of what they like, he says. College students are lucky. They’re packed in dorms, which are like petri dishes for both swine flu and music swapping. Once students graduate, they’re starved for new music.

Nice tunes, grandma.

The average age for a Pandora listener is actually 32 years old, and Westergren says he knows of a few listeners older than 100.

Music Genes

Pandora’s innovation knows no age. It started as the Music Genome Project 10 years ago, which treats songs like DNA and uncodes their genes using more than 400 attributes. For example, vocal quality has about 30 sub-features like tone and falsetto. By mapping songs, the project selects music its listener might like. The listener can give a thumbs up or down for each song.

Starting to sound a little robotic?

“I think it does scare some people,” Westergren says. “It may sound scientific, but it’s actually quite human.” Twenty-five musicians work for Pandora by manually describing musical elements. Think of them like clerks at a local record store.

Why does it still get things wrong?

“There are lots of reasons that you like and don’t like music. There are cultural things, and your own personal experience. We don’t capture it all. We don’t always get it right, and that’s why we give you the thumbs.”

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