The Beauty of Music and Technology
I clicked next when my favorite song came blasting through my computer speakers. I never bought it on iTunes, it was playing on Pandora.
Music is one of the greatest things that people can have. It evokes emotions in people. It can also relax or energize people depending on the beat. Music comes in many different types of genres and beats and melodies. Many people can sing ad many people can write lyrics. Music can affect people in ways that nothing else can.
People listen to music all the time. One of the most common times people listen to music is when they are in the car – thanks to radio. Radios give people the music they want (selection by station). The music is also briefly interrupted to give snippets of news or facts relevant to the audience listening.
Pandora made listening to music on a computer worldwide. The best thing about Pandora is the ability to create stations specifically off the type of music the individual wants to listen to.
“Pandora Genome Project slices and dices the DNA of music, then with algorithms find patterns in an individual music-lovers preferences. Subscribers, who pay nothing, are streamed a unique playlist (The Media of Mass Communication, page 120).”
People get to type in a genre, song title, or artist to create a playlist. Then Pandora creates the playlist tailored to the individual. Once the playlist is created, the listener has the power to thumb up (like) or thumb down (dislike) the music. This gives the listener the power to create the perfect playlist for themselves.
In 2000, Tim Westergren saw the potential to create something that integrated music, Internet, and radio. He created the ultimate DJ-ing ability. Listeners lose that ability and become active partners in choosing their own music.
Pandora is one of the top iPod and iPhone apps. When searching in Google, typing just “P” will bring Pandora up first in the search bar. While walking around a college campus, many students have ear buds in listening to music. A majority of these students will be listening to Pandora. I know I for one am doing the exact same thing.
I do not have money to buy the latest singles from iTunes, but I do have the time to create my own personal radio station to play it. Pandora is perfect for this. I can control what I listen to. If I do not like it, then I just thumb down the song and it adds that into the algorithm.
Tim Westergren created the perfect system for people to listen to the music they want in the way that they want. He designed the perfect system to organize music in a way that is useful to listeners.
Pandora is not only an app, but a website of the future of music. Instead of having to buy (or illegally download) music, people are able to create their own ‘radio’ station according to the type of music they want. They can listen to it wherever they have internet access – and thanks to 4G, that’s almost everywhere!
On one hand, not buying the music is great. I don’t end up spending my paycheck on songs that I may eventually remove from my playlists on iTunes. But on the other, we don’t get the opportunity to play and replay songs we love. The songs are chosen for us.
One thing that really caught my attention was how artists do not make as much money through Pandora as they do in iTunes when someone buys their product.
As a writer –an artist if you will- I understand the impact of someone seeing your product, using it, but then not paying for it. Although most artists on Pandora can afford this, the artists that can’t are not on Pandora. You won’t find your friend’s EP on there, or the songs from your local musical or music artist. This definitely takes away any support those artists can get.
The next time you are on Pandora, exit it. Go onto YouTube and look for local musicians or artists. Not only can you support local people, but you can also help others fulfill their dreams.
As with anything beautiful, the beauty cracks and fades. Pandora is coming to this. For now, its shiny and new, but later you’ll want the same song for awhile or a friend’s EP.
