Spring Break
The Daily OrangePandora creator discusses Internet radio woes
By Paul Squire
Posted: 2/25/08, 12:09 AM EST Section: News
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"We don't want to be Internet radio," said Tim Westergren, founder of radio Web site Pandora, to a packed classroom Friday in Newhouse III. "We want to be radio".
With every chair occupied, it was standing room only at the free event sponsored by the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications.
Pandora.com is an Internet music site founded by Westergren in January 2000. Pandora originally started as a database of music for company use, but it became a public radio Web site in 2004.
With 11 million registered users and 20,000 to 25,000 more joining each day, Pandora is at the forefront of Internet radio innovation. "Pandora within the music entertainment is its own thing right now," said Chris Naoum, the event organizer. "I really think Pandora is here to stay."
The site operates using a series of musical characteristics Westergren describes as "the building blocks of songs" that are generated from the Music Genome Project.
The Music Genome Project maps songs and artists based on musical characteristics like vocal dynamics, rhythm and key tonality, according to its Web site. After entering an artist or song into the Web site, Pandora then uses these characteristics to create a custom radio station with similar songs.
The future was not always this bright for Pandora. The original site went bankrupt when the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, and Westergren admitted to having landlords demand rent from his staff as they worked without pay.
Even now as Pandora grows by the day, the site faces challenges. The federal government recently raised the price of royalties that Internet radio sites must pay artists to play their songs. If the fees stay raised, radio sites like Pandora would likely be forced to shut down, Westergren said.
"Pandora's business model is broken," Westergren said.
However, he remains unfazed. Westergren sent out e-mails to every Pandora user asking for help, and within days, a grassroots campaign made up of Pandora users had petitioned the federal government to lower the fees, causing Congress to intervene.
Westergren offered suggestions to entrepreneurs in the room as he discussed Pandora's beginnings and the hardships that followed. The key, he said, was to find an idea you are passionate about.
"Don't do it alone," he also advised. "Try to find someone you trust, someone who complements you."
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