BIF-2 Alert! Time Magazine Names Pandora One of Seven "Cool Sites" to Bookmark

Time Magazine just named Pandora.com one of seven "cool sites" to bookmark. The ultimate in cool sites—type in the name of your favorite band, and within moments the site will be streaming a radio station, featuring songs from that band and similar ones—Pandora's CEO Tim Westergren will be sharing his story about the company and its Music Genome Project at our upcoming BIF-2 Summit.

The Music Genome Project is a mammoth undertaking to analyze hundreds of thousands of songs and catalogue them according to their constituent parts—different elements of vocals, instrumentation, melodies, harmonies and other characteristics—creating a database that could draw links between songs on the basis of these 400 or so musical “genes.”

“I spent a lot of years pursuing a musical career, so I came face to face with the challenge that all musicians face—to get noticed among the tens of thousands of bands trying to do the same thing,” says Tim. “I became very interested in how to solve the problem, from a musician’s standpoint, of how to find an audience”—and, from a fan’s standpoint, of how to find music you like.

With online advances making music more readily available to consumers, and with the Human Genome Project, a monumental effort to decipher mankind’s genetic code, hitting critical mass toward the end of the millennium, Westergren’s wheels began spinning and the Music Genome Project was born.

A great story not to be missed. Head here for more information on the BIF-2 Summit and how you can participate in the conversation.

Posted August 28, 2006 08:46 PM by Chris Flanagan | Permalink