Paul Brown presented what he was very consistent in referring to as “Pandora Radio”, but to a slighty more
empty theatre than I expected (Rod from Channel 4 packed it out on 4oD. TV sexier than radio?).
Pandora – It’s about discovery of music. Feeding back your thoughts through Thumbs up/thumb down – You never know what you’re going to get. It’s a Musical journey.
(Similar to how mi-XFM is described).
Apparently an average user creates 25 stations.
Paul made heavy emphasis on “Discovery through radio”; “Unparalled music discovery.”. Does that keep the record industry happy?
‘Backstage’ coverage of artists (Licensed from AMG Music Guide) has been popular, and now there is Pandora station sharing / user profiles. Click to other people listening to this kind of music.
The Music Genome Project identified 400 genes in music. Not genre orientated.
They employ 48 human analysts – coding guys;. 20 mins analysis of each song. 500,000 songs, 15,000 songs a month. (Compare that to what we do in the radio industry).
Music genome project seems almost separate – is this the ultimate meta tagging for music?
An ambition to be a Multi-platform Pandora – usual list of platforms.
Pandora users meeting – 50-200 users on Tour/on the road, face to face meetings. How much time do radio stations spend with listeners engaging over music.
Growth: 6.141m reg listeners to Mar 07. Very linear growth,
How’s it funded: “It’s a free service, it’s advertising supported, it’s radio.”
Business Model in more detail:
* 1 to 1 context sensitive ads (not audio) ( Usual blue chip advertisers / Nike customised radio).
* Non-intrusive
* Subscription product
* E-commerce
Other issues:
Licensing is a problem.
Pandora mobile has a cost.
Classical music is coming (Classic fm ?).
Consumer electronics partnerships
Evolution of the Radio Experience