Music’s Middle Class Part 5: Q&A With Pandora Founder Tim Westergren

H ow would you describe the Music Genome Project, and is anyone else using it?

“The genome itself is a musical taxonomy. It’s a very large collection of musical attributes that collectively go into a song; it’s sound, melody, harmony, voice,  and instrumentation broken down into their primary colors. For example there are 35 attributes for voice alone. We score each one of these for every song. When you type a song into Pandora, the Music Genome Project compares it with everything else in its collection based on musical similarity. This analysis is done by a trained musician, we have about 50 working for us. The Music Genome Project is just used for Pandora. Pandora and the Music Genome Project are kind of one in the same.”

How does Pandora make sure it won’t get sued when songs from so many different artists are being streamed?

“Pandora exists under a federal statutory license designed to allow Web casters a single document you can sign, giving you permission to play any music you want without permission from direct artists. We pay a royalty fee for every single song we stream.”

Pandora is a site that can be used for free. Do you think there is any correlation between its users and people who have illegally pirated music in the past?

“I don’t really know what the direct correlation is with piracy. One of the things that has caused piracy to sprout up is that there hasn’t been a good option that makes music consumption easy, and allows us to find it at the right price. I think Pandora solves that problem. I think the ease of use of Pandora and your ability to play what you want is going to gradually move people off illegal stuff.”

What would you say the goal of Pandora is?

“Our mission is to help create a musician’s middle class. As part of that, we get 15,000 independent songs a month. It’s a very democratic environment, we’re selective about what we put in. But you can be a garage band, and if you’re good at it you’ll be playing right next to big groups like Coldplay, REM and U2.”

Do you think independent artists are getting more and more of a level playing field in recent years due to the Internet?

“I think the big guys are still in control, but that control is slipping. Indie artists, it’s a whole different world for them now. They have a lot more strength and a lot more tools. They have the opportunity to compete in a way they never have before. I think that idea is slowly coming true. The foundation has been laid.”

How have you continually been able to find new artists for the Music Genome Project?

“We get it from a bunch of places.  Musicians send it to us directly, whether it’s an indie band or a label that sends it. We have an enormous growing amount coming from listeners as well. We also get recommendations from people searching on Pandora, we monitor all missed searches to see what to get next. We scour pitchfork.”

What do you think about Sirius and XM satellite radio? Do you think they’re part of the way the music industry is changing, or do you see them as no more than competition?

“They’re helping the industry, but they’re also competition. We compete with any form of radio, our biggest competition is Clear Channel. The biggest consumer of listeners is corporate radio. Satellite is too limiting for what we do. We stream hundreds of thousands of unique channels. I think the innovation of satellite radio is great though. I think it’s great when I have a rental car with XM or Sirius.”