I should have posted this earlier, but I’ve been working most of the day. Here’s some news for you, though:
PANDORA LAUNCHES CLASSICAL MUSIC
Addition of Classical to Music Genome Project Enables Listeners to Create Classical Stations Tailored to Their Taste
OAKLAND, Calif. – November 13, 2007 – Pandora today announced the addition of classical music to its personalized radio service. Pandora has spent several years expanding the Music Genome into the classical realm. The collection now includes tens of thousands of recordings by more than 500 composers spanning the major historical periods of classical music: Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Modern and Contemporary.
Classical music fans have been woefully under-served when it comes to mainstream radio. With this launch, Pandora hopes to contribute to the growing resurgence of classical music by providing a powerful new way to enjoy and explore this rich repertoire. The service offers an extensive collection of music that can be tailored to an individual’s personal taste, regardless of one’s knowledge of classical music.
“We think classical music enthusiasts will be delighted by the ability to explore any and all parts of the classical music universe in ways that have never before been possible”, said Tim Westergren, Founder of Pandora. “At the same time, we hope to make classical music more accessible and relevant to everyone.”
Pandora Classical is built on the foundation of the Music Genome Project®, an exhaustive database of musical tracks analyzed by highly trained musicians, one at a time, using close to 400 musical traits including every detail of melody, harmony, orchestration, rhythm, texture, style, text, and more. This database enables listeners to easily create stations that share musical similarities. To start, listeners need only enter the name of a classical composer and within seconds a station is created that plays music by that composer along with similar music by other composers. Thumbs up and down allow listeners to further fine tune the station to accommodate their tastes. A new station can also be created from the current playing composer or track.
For example, a listener may start off by simply typing “Mozart” to create a station that explores the work of that composer and others that share musical similarities with him. At any time, the listener can choose to dive more deeply into a specific part of Mozart’s catalogue by selecting a track that has played and creating a station based just on that work. If the listener were to select the second movement of Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 21 and create a station based on it, that station would then explore other works (especially piano concertos) that have musical characteristics similar to those of that particular movement.
“This is a very important step for Pandora,” said Nolan Gasser, Pandora’s Chief Musicologist. “It has been a massive undertaking, and a long time goal, to have classical music on Pandora. We’re thrilled to be able to offer this to our listeners. Classical music is the foundation of most music we hear, and a repertoire of unmatched beauty, power and diversity; but it has long been abandoned by most broadcast media. We hope to make classical music relevant to a mainstream audience by making the experience easy and highly personalized.”
Pandora will celebrate the launch tonight with a special event in San Francisco for listeners and classical music lovers. The event will feature a live symphony performance by the Bay Area’s Jubilate Orchestra, as well as a solo by world-renowned trumpeter Jens Lindemann, former lead trumpet of the Canadian Brass.
And that’s all, folks.
