Pied Piper
Tim Westergren of Pandora came to town last week. He was the keynote speaker at the recent North State Entrepreneur, CEO, and Innovation Forum held at the Sierra Nevada Big Room.
His story is pretty amazing. A musician by training, he wanted to figure out a way to correlate music by attribute, as contrasted to genre, radio format, or category. The result was an ambitious database development program called the Music Genome Project. His company, Savage Beast Technologies, presented their business plan and funding pitch at the Golden Capital Network's 2003 East Bay Venture Capital Conference, and won the Best of Show award.
His business model at that time was licensing his database to music retailers that would use it to recommend music to their customers based on their preferences. That model, in Tim's words, "sucked", and about a year ago, he rebranded the firm as Pandora, and launched what has become one of the most popular internet music sites.
It's "roll your own radio", enabling anyone with a web browser and a sound card to define their own radio stations, based on artists or songs they like. The Genome database selects material based on the attributes of the music you specify, programs it into sets of a few similar tunes, and streams it to your computer. The service is free, supported by advertising.
Why is this man smiling? Because his business, which operated for years in deep debt, is now profitable and growing at a phenomenal rate. With over 100 employees, and more than 4.5 million subscribers, Pandora is the third most popular radio site on the internet. Considering how many streaming music sources there are out there, they're clearly doing something right.
After the conference, Tim hosted a "meet up" at the City Council chamber for local subscribers. I saw some familiar faces, and plenty of people I've never met, who all use Pandora to supply or at least supplement their listening. Tim also gave away some logo tchotchkes (hats, t-shirts, etc.) and answered questions about the service and future features. Right now, users can notify friends about their stations, and give them access to their programming. Soon, users will be able to broadcast their programming to the net promiscuously. One more nail in the coffin of the major labels, and a real chance for independent artists to find an audience. Check it out, thank me later.