Only for music lovers!

The music genome project began in January 2000 when a group of musicians and technologists had the idea of creating a deep analysis of music. Pandora.com is mainly about capturing the essence of music 'at the most fundamental level'. Genome stands for the idea of attributing 'genes' and musical characteristics to the songs and artists' styles. What they do, is decomposing music to its fundamental components and find identity within genres, musical instruments, notes, orchestration, lyrics, rhythm, etc. They capture these singularities and find the characteristics that make a song similar to another one. It's not about the genre a music band or songs are supposed to fit in, but the uniqueness that identifies them. Pandora.com is a personalized -and customized- 'radio station' that works like this: you pick a song or an artist you like, then Pandora finds a song yo may also like. Let's say you specifically like Paranoid Android by Radiohead. They will identify Paranoid Android's characteristics in rhythm, lyrics, instrumentation, music style and they will find you a similar song. You learn something about the song you like with the description they provide, and then they suggest songs. You can either vote for 'yes, I like it' or 'no, I don't like it, that's not what I asked for'. You can play music for free, whatever you feel like listening. You can create your radio stations (by song or by artist). Feedback is great for them to narrow the styles and for you to have just what you like. So, there you go! You have your own personal radio station playing free for unlimited time and you can discover a new world of artists and songs and if you love music you are going to be fascinated by the new discoveries. It's a shame that you can only access Pandora in the United States. They are working on expanding their business to other countries. I think it's a great idea: interesting and complex relationship between consumer, music bands, online music stores and a strong online community that can be very powerful for marketing efforts. An example of using new technologies to build new relationships just where people are: online, looking for customized content available immediately. I love Pandora.com!