Apple may have many reasons for preventing Flash applications to work on the iPhone and iPod Touch, but I can't think of one more compelling than Pandora.
The free Music Genome Project-based service, which is fast gaining a cult following similar to that of Apple products for its simple user interface and innovative edge in music consumption, is sure to present some serious competition to iTunes on any mobile device.
Which will come first to the iPhone: Pandora or an Apple-branded music subscription service?
(Credit: Pandora Media)Sure, Pandora technically is Apple-friendly, letting users bookmark songs they hear on their customized radio stations, then buy them through iTunes. But when you've customized your "Paul Simon Radio" station to the point that you consistently hear more songs you really like--and ones you'll grow to love--through natural Pandora play than through listening to songs in your iTunes library in shuffle mode, there isn't much of a compelling reason to pay to further clutter your handset memory with more tunes.
It's no surprise that Pandora users are excited about the idea of using the service, through which users can hone what they hear by suggesting artists and songs, and giving a thumbs-up or thumbs-down (or bookmark) to any song they hear, on the iPhone and iPod Touch.
"Only problem with Pandora on iPhone is that iPhone doesn't support Flash," user Jase commented on the Pandora blog in June, referring to the Mac maker's resistance to letting its mobile iteration of the Safari browser support the Adobe Systems technology, upon which Pandora's service relies. "Maybe Pandora can come up with an iPhone-compatible interface. Now that would really rock!"
Months later, other users chimed in on the comments thread: "Pandora and the iPhone were made for each other," Bill said in August. "I NEED PANDORA ON MY IPHONE...I'm dying...Please design a simple interface that can be accessed online by iPhone--or a plugin, as per the YouTube/iPhone setup. Apple better help," Rab said in September.
"I would pay for this service," Ben Grey said. "Pandora on an iPhone would make me buy both! The iPhone already has the car interface and unlimited data plans. All we need is a compatible Web app. Please, please, please!" Thomas W. Watson said.
You get the idea: in terms of common enthusiasts, at least, this would be such a good match that Apple must be thinking to itself, gee, maybe we can create a Pandora-like magic for the iPhone on our own. And charge for it. After all, though recent research indicates that having a sheer scale of users helps iTunes generate a decent amount of cash, CEO Steve Jobs says iTunes--as well as the App Store--is not set up to make money.
So it's interesting to me that the same day Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen is publicly pushing the idea of Flash compatibility for the iPhone, we hear rumors of Apple negotiating with the record labels to create an all-you-can-eat subscription service for the iPod and iPhone.
Is there a connection within Apple's executive ranks? Perhaps not. But it seems logical that Apple would want to endorse its own subscription service before enabling a popular Flash-reliant music service such as Pandora to grace its mobile hardware.
Pandora has added classical music to the Music Genome Project, the extensive music database and engine that powers its DIY Internet radio site.
If you were addicted to Pandora before, just wait until you can actually figure out what kind of classical music you like.
The addition is significant as more than any other DIY Internet radio site, Pandora is known for its ability to figure out what listeners like based on a musical genetic code for each song. Nowhere is a song's musical genetic code more relevant to figuring out what you like than in the complexities of classically composed music.
Pandora Classical, as the company refers to the addition, includes a collection of over 10,000 recordings by more than 500 composers spanning the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Modern, and Contemporary classical music genres.
"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. At the same time, we hope to make classical music more accessible and relevant to everyone," Tim Westergren, founder and chief strategy officer of Pandora, said in a statement.
In addition to stations based on one artist, listeners can choose to listen to one movement in a piece and then build a station that recommends other similar music pieces by other artists.
For the holidays, Pandora has also added a feature for playing holiday songs exclusively. As with all Internet radio stations, you can never call up an artist and song on demand, but Pandora has found a way to get you close to that. Typing in "Frosty the Snowman" brings up a list of covers of the song from many different artists. Choosing one of those brings up songs that sound like that particular artist, or brings up that artist singing a different holiday favorite. Alternatively, you can also type in the name of an artist and the word "holiday" to get holiday recordings with their sound.
CNET News.com posted an interview with Pandora founder Tim Westergren the other day. He stated that technology has had a radical effect on distribution, and he'll get no argument from me there--iTunes, CDBaby, MySpace, file-trading, and all the other services I've written about are fundamentally altering how users consume music. Music production's also in the midst of a sea change: while I disagree that you can create a world-class-sounding recording for free, you certainly don't need access to a $300-a-day recording studio like you did 10 years ago when I first started playing.
Westergren hopes Pandora can do for promotion what other technological tools have done for distribution and production, and in the process help create a new breed of "middle-class musicians"--not rock stars, but people who can make a reasonable living playing music.
Based on how I've heard people talk about it, Pandora must have one of the highest Q scores of any online service--the people who've tried it seem to love it. It especially seems to hold great appeal for the semi-committed music fan--people who like music, maybe bought a lot of CDs back in college, but have stopped following every new release or trying to discover new bands. But part of its success, I think, is due to the fact that it plays mostly music that's already popular. Sure, anybody can submit their CDs for inclusion, but I'm skeptical that they will accept many unsigned or totally obscure bands or place them into heavy rotation.
Even if they do, exposing music to 100,000 people (Westergren's goal) is no guarantee of success. An example: a Seattle band had its 2nd self-released album picked up by noncommercial station KEXP and placed into unusually heavy rotation--probably three or four times a day for about six months, which is remarkable given the breadth of music played on that station. I'm sure 100,000 people heard their songs. Their local shows suddenly got a lot bigger. But when they did the four-week national tour, suddenly they were back playing in front of 20 people again. They did fine with album sales and local shows, and are in the process of recording a followup, but middle-class musicians? Not yet.
The reason? Publicity's hard. Big radio stations won't play you unless you're on a major. Daily newspapers won't write about you unless there's a really strong local connection or you already have a big following. Independent radio stations have almost no listeners, with a few exceptions like KEXP and KCRW and WFMU, and they're inundated with new releases. Smaller weekly newspapers are similarly inundated with press kits and publicists' e-mails, but have limited space--even the most in-depth music section can publish no more than a dozen album reviews and maybe five or six in-depth show previews each week. (And how many times have you gone and seen a touring band strictly based on a newspaper article?)
Sure, technology's had some effect. A lot of club bookers and newspapers accept only electronic press kits ("just send us a link to your Web site with the MP3s"), which saves on promotional costs. MySpace is a great way to meet fans of your genre of music, and other musicians to help you find a place to crash or set up a gig, but your 10,000 friends won't get enough people to your shows where they buy albums and merchandise.
Really, the only way to get publicity outside the major-label system is through word of mouth. Which means record, release, tour, repeat. Sometimes for years on end.
SAN FRANCISCO--At an event here Tuesday night, Pandora Media unveiled an updated Web site and new partnerships that would make its streaming Internet radio service more mobile.
(Credit:
CNET Networks)
Pandora, the third-largest Internet radio service, with nearly 7 million registered users, according to founder Tim Westergren, said it teamed with Sprint to sell its music recommendation service over the company's cell phones. Pandora will cost $2.99 per month after a free 30-day trial on select Sprint phones.
It also struck a deal with digital-media player maker Sonos to stream music into the home wirelessly for $36 a year. And down the road, Westergren said the company will launch its service on a Wi-Fi-connected MP3 player.
Pandora needs to diversify and broaden its listener base in the face of a money crunch, especially in light of new government regulations that will raise royalty fees Webcasters must pay to record labels. Westergren said: "We write a big licensing check every month; it's expensive and takes a lot of advertising."
Pandora, an Internet service that lets people listen to streaming music, is shutting its service to non-U.S. listeners, according to several reports.
The ban is due to new regulations that will raise royalty fees that Webcasters must pay to record labels, Pandora founder Tim Westergren told The Register. The ban, he said, "follows months of pressure from record labels."
Pandora representatives told Techcrunch that they have been working on obtaining international licenses for nearly two years and are close to deals in the U.K. and Canada.
The service has always been intended for U.S. users, but until now, all that was required to sign up was a ZIP code. Now the site will block IP addresses located outside the States.
Blog community response:
"Anyone who's used Pandora for more than about five minutes realizes what a great service it is for the entire recording industry. It really does a good job of recommending new music to listeners -- the type of new music that fits in with what they like, and that they're much more likely to support with money. However, rather than recognizing the numerous ways that Pandora can grow their overall market, the recording industry has to shut it down since it won't pay them even more than they're already being paid. This harms the recording industry in numerous ways, and it's amazing they haven't figured that out yet."
--Techdirt
"The company's decision comes in the wake of a stupid decision by the U.S. Congress to slap far-too-high royalty rates on streaming music - rates that are much higher than traditional and satellite radio. And you wonder why Web-savvy consumers, who love being able to discover lots of new music online, are still being tempted by P2P services!"
--Mark Evans
"Pandora surely did not decided for themselves to limit their services which leads to the question why the Music Industry is trying everything to stop people from listening to music which they probably would have bought. But you won't buy something that you don't know, don't you think ? Did not think the Music Industry could get any lower than they already are. They apparently can."
--Ghacks.net
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