New York, NY (May 13, 2008) – Pandora.com, a web-based personal radio station (similar to Last.fm... yet different), is said to be in the leading candidate in Clear Channel’s quest to infuse a personalized music experience across its’ web sites. From the Billboard Biz release:
… Pandora allows users to build a custom playlist of sorts based off the characteristics of one song. The system recommends songs that sound similar to the one first chosen, based on a catalog of about 500,000 titles.
The partnership should prove a major boon to Pandora, which is struggling with how to remain operational under the weight of the new Webcaster royalty rates. The exact details of the deal between the two parties have not yet been disclosed, and Clear Channel declined to comment on the specifics.
But adding such a feature is considered essential for Clear Channel to stay competitive in the online space. Competitor CBS Radio earlier this month unveiled plans for a similar custom DJ feature called Play.It, working in conjunction with sister company Last.fm. Both efforts show how terrestrial radio stations are responding to listeners' increasing demand for more control of their listening experience.
Pandora operates under the auspices of the “Music Genome Project.” Songs, they say, have genes, and by typing in a song, you can create a playlist based on similar song qualities: melody, rhythm, tone, tempo, structure, etc. Last.fm, on the other hand, is more a social tool, relying on the recommendations of it’s users to generate a playlist. Read about the differences and similarities of each platform here. Both are cool, and both are free.
