The songs I reject usually seem to have popped up on a genre classification rather than based on specific characteristics. I don't have very adventurous tastes but I wish I could thumb up or down on specific attributes, especially if there were an attribute called "twee"...

All I can tell you is that I know what each station is supposed to be in my head. They're tailored to the kinds of musical moods I get into and they've been very good at it. If I know I'm in a particular musical mood and a song comes up that doesn't match it, I reach for my thumbs down button. no questions asked.

When setting up stations, it's difficult to restrict a certain "type" of music with a more or less narrow "slice" of songs/artists.
Pandora has provided such a deep and wide characterization of the music it features that it's inevitable that something unexpected will pop up when listening.
And that's not always a bad thing either!
But, for me, Pandora is great for setting so many moods of listening.
It IS the ULTIMATE listening experience!

I google pictures of every artist that comes up in my station and if I don't find the artist attractive, I give it a big thumbs down.

Ok, so I'm totally kidding, but usually when I give a thumbs down it is because the song doesn't fit in the genre that I imagine my station fits in. Also, if a crappy country song somehow pops up I immediately dis it...unless it's old school country, then it can stay.

For me, it's when a song suddenly stands out as not being with the "flow" of all the songs. Either too loud, too fast, etc. Another reason I reject is because I simply don't like the sound of the voice or the song is super-annoying :)

The station I have set up is for when I am at work and need music that keeps me creative enough to work but mellow enough that I actually want to work. The songs that have been poping up that get a thumbs down are ones that have too heavy of a hard rock roots, or contain dirty electric guitar. I'm still trying to figure out what Iron Madien and The Cure, or any of my other listed artists have in common.

I think there are two axes that the stations sometimes miss: energy level (as indicated by tempo and dynamic contrast) and emotional atmosphere (combination of major/minor key with vocals and choice of instrumentation and percussion). Mismatching one of those two things usually generates a thumbs-down.

Sometimes a song will have a very irritating "loud/offbeat" rhythm. When I'm working on a rush I especially can't click that thumbs down button fast enough.

I like various forms of electronica, but I can only tolerate a certain level of dissonance, and also like for there to be something approaching a melody. Most of my thumbs down are on my electronic music stations, and are for this reason. I dunno exactly how the genomes for electronica work, but sometimes I get the feeling that making a distinction between noise and music is not emphasized. (Of course, I recognize that any such distinction is terribly subjective and that somewhere out there is someone who *likes* Nurse with Wound.)

Most of my non-electronic thumbs downs are for the same thing, actually - I want a melody. I don't absolutely demand it, but a song without one (and I offer Dylan's "Tombstone Blues" as an example of such) had better have lots of other things going for it (and, of course, "Tombstone Blues" does).

- Alan -

Where I run into trouble is when I'm looking for a particular ethnic feel. For example, I have a station I started with Los Lobos. They have a really varied sound, and I'm looking for the artists that share their more traditional sound rather than their rockin' sound. Another station I've struggled with is a Celtic-roots station. I *want* a varied sound on this one--from U2 (but not all of U2, just the quiet ones) to Flogging Molly to Enya. Pandora was giving me some crazy choices (Bog Seger, Bruce Springsteen), so I took out the U2 artist seed and put in some specific U2 songs instead and that helped. Anyway, the only suggestion I have is, if there were a way to choose a music category before seeding with artists or songs, or a way to communicate to Pandora what exactly it is about certain music that I'm looking for. Honestly, though, it's been a fun challenge, and the stations where I'm just entering songs and artists I like without any other parameters in my head have been amazingly accurate. The main times I reject songs on those stations, they are songs that I would like if I hadn't heard them too many times elsewhere. Like, I like REM a lot but some of their older stuff I've been done with for a few years.

Thats a tough one. You know I try to stay as open minded as humanly possible. But sometimes life throws you left hook out of no where and you say to yourself "Huh?" I usually like my music a little towards the mellow side. Must a be age thang. Sometimes I'm in the mood for some soulful R&B I have a station called Behind The Quiet Storm I can be sitting chillin with a Mojito thinking sensualality after all thats what this station is for. Then all of sudden Pandora gets a little crazy and throws in some hard core funk. I mean it totally messes that mood up. Heres another example I can be listening to some James Taylor for an example on my station Folk Singers and Acoustic Stories. The Blam its followed by Leslie West and you're like WOW! You're messing up because the music genome gets on roll and its out of control. Then I find my self changing the stations. Good thing I have 20 of them to chose from. So thank goodness I have a station for almost everything. My stations are like children and I got to nurture their musical personalities. I'm glad we have the thumbs down system because there are times where I just cant find a place for some tunes. Other than those few situations I have to say 90% of the time Pandora knows where I'm coming from and what musical dish to feed mw with.

I mostly listen to 60s-70s - British invasion, its american counterparts, and the early psychedelia. Most of my rejects are modern groups that try to play that style. For some reason my ear detects some kind of disharmony in them - could it be that modern guitars sound different? The only modern group that doesn't get the axe from me is Polyphonic Spree, and to a bit lesser extent - The Divine Comedy, all the rest usually go down the trashcan, and I'm glad only two thumbs down are sufficient for that.

Otherwise, the songs that get thumbed down are usually either too sweet and unoriginal, or too noisy.

As great as Pandora is,....I hate that the song I want to hear....and type in on ''Create a Station'' ...doesn't come on immediately....example...I wanted to hear the song from the movie..''Love With the Proper Stranger'' by Jack Jones! The station has been playing daily for over 3 weeks....and it is YET TO PLAY ''Love With the Proper Stranger''--- THAT STINKS! But love Pandora.com...nevertheless!!!!!!

Once I've got my station set, I go on to do other things on the computer. I'll be typing away, then the "wrong song" comes on and it jars me out of my task. It's usually when a song veers out of the genre I'm listening to. Gets too loud, too fast, too hard. So, thumbs down, then back to my work. I love getting the exposure to new music though, even if it means gettin the occasional one I don't like!

pandora needs a "concert alert" section of the page...so if you are listening to a particular kind of music it could alert you to a concert in your area

I wish I could create stations based on the description of the music. I find that I really like songs that are classified as "Prevelant use of Groove" Now if I could just create that station. I did find a user station called that and its pretty good.

On a number of my stations I periodically get a selection with a reggae beat. I've tried my hardest, but I just can't stand reggae. I get fed reggae anyway. I reject it no matter who the artist is. I want to be able to say - reggae: thanks but no thanks.

I'm usually doing something while listening to Pandora, like writing. If a selection comes on that annoys me enough to distract me and I realize I'm annoyed BECAUSE of the music playing, I reject it. And of course sometimes I am distracted because I like it so much, so I listen and then thumb it up.

If a song comes up that I don't like, it's typically because that song is of a completely different genre than the artist/song of the station I'm listening to at the time.

Since Pandora recommends music based on the aural attributes of an artist/song, a station can often contain many different genres of music. Usually, this is a good thing. I am pleasantly surprised by most songs Pandora picks, even if they vary in style. But sometimes Pandora brings up a cheesy pop-rock song when what I really wanted in the first place was a station that played indie rock, or something like that.

My station is all-electronic music. So, when a country song comes up or some other guitar-oriented song, then I'll listen for a bit, and then reject it. As for the electronic music I reject, that's a bit harder to describe. I most often reject generic techno/trance/house that uses boring sounds or repeats something annoying. If there are vocals and the voice isn't good, I'll reject it.

There are a number of things that usually get me to give a song thumbs down. They are pretty much in this order:

1. I don't like the singer's voice
2. The song is too "mainstream" or boring
3. The beat is a repetitive disco style beat
4. I generally don't like the genre (there are very few metal, reggae, hip-hop or rap songs I like.)
5. The song is too repetitive either lyrically or musically
6. The lyrics are too preachy or praising god too much for my tastes

Some songs are given thumbs down almost instantly. Others are given a thumbs down after I've heard most of or the whole song. These are ones where I hear elements I like, but they just don't come together enough for me to want to hear them again.

Interestingly enough hearing songs that don't fit makes me look a little more closely at the songs on the station. I try to see why the song was picked and can usually find the common element.

I don't mind being "closed-minded" about music. Just as life is too short for bad wine it's too short to listen to bad music as well. I like to listen to what I enjoy. If you want me to be challenged musically you'd better be willing to pay me for my time.

I also generally don't think that the songs I give thumbs down are bad or deficient in some way. Most of them just aren't my style. I do sometimes come across some songs where I have to ask myself what people get out of the songs. I think this is especially true for songs where I absolutely can't stand the vocals because they seem like they're off key or are just plain annoying to me.

Interestingly enough I know there are songs I love that would fail based on someone else's interpretation of my criteria. However those songs usually have something in them that can make me look (or hear more appropriately) past the deficiency.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU TIM. THIS IS THE BEST MUSICAL STATION I HAVE EVER HEARD. NOT ONLY DO I GET A CHOICE AS TO WHO I LISTEN TO BUT THE VARIETY IS AS WIDE AS THE WORLD WE LIVE IN. I LIVE IN DENVER,CO. AND I LISTEN TO THE "ONE" AND ONLY JAZZ STATION BUT IT HAS THE SAME ROTATION OF MUSIC.
MY ONLY COMPLAINT IS THAT I DON'T KNOW HOW TO DOWNLOAD THE SONGS TO MY LIBRARY SO I CAN BURN A CD.
THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH.

Hrmmm... on my own Industrial/Electronic station, the things that I thumbs down are generally things that veer out a bit outside the atmosphere I'm trying to keep set up. While it has a lot of industrial and new wave sounds, I tend thumbs down things that are either too Metal, or too... er, Trancey. The sound is the thing with that particular station.

On another note... is there any way to dispute the accuracy any of the qualities of a song? One of the song seeds I had put into the station had more of a sad feel, though the instrumentation styles didn't quite match up with the rest of the station. However, it was labeled with a 'major key tonality' when it seems like it should be Minor... and that has led to getting some really strange songs picked that have all been thumbs-downed. On a station playing Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM, Filter, and Orgy, why was the first song played "Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini"?

There are several things which can cause me to reject songs that come up. One of the major ones is lyrics--lyrics that are boring, insipid, stupid, excessively repetitive, awkward, incomprehensible, or distasteful to me can thoroughly turn me off a song. The singer's voice can also be a major factor in my reaction to a song, although exactly how is difficult to explain.

My biggest problem with Pandora is that it seems to feed me back the superficial or less-central parts of a song, creating stations that play music with the same general sound as the music I tell it I like, but without the interesting twists and turns that make me really love a song.

The songs I reject usually happen because of a too broad of an approach to one or more of the descriptions to the original song/artist. Because of several qualities that are associated with it, pandora can go off and find many, many songs that fit in as similar. sometimes, one of those qualities is either subtle in the listening or non existent for the tracks from the artist you actually want to hear.

Personally, i wouldn't mind being able to rate importance of the original qualities or possibly tell the player to not use some of them when finding new music.

For me, I am building several stations at the same time. Usually I will move a song that I like from one station to another. One station "cover town" in particular is a challenge on Pandora. Because I am creating a station based on songs made famous by a particular artist as covered by different artists. Pandora seems unable to make this distinction.

The reason I will reject songs, at least at my favorite stations, is more that they're the wrong era than anything else. I've set up a station that plays pop & jazz from the 20s and 30s, but often Pandora will give me selections based on criteria such as type of singer, orchestration, or some other set of factors. So I start getting a series of selections based in the late 40s or the 50s that may be similar on the surface, but have a totally different "feel" than the music I'm looking for.

I have found that Pandora does a great job of keeping my station within the particular desired style. I have several similar stations: Frank Sinatra; Billie Holiday; Piano Jazz; Sax Jazz; and Brubeck. Pandora has wonderfully kept these stations pretty distinct. Only, occasionally will I have to move an individual song to another station.

Sometimes a song will pop up that I just don't like for no particular reason, but I can see how it fits the station. Wishing not to restrict other songs that might result from allowing this one song in the mix, I often choose to skip it rather than thumbs-down it. The other day, though, it threw in Bob Seger and Billy Joel on my Sinatra station, I had to thumbs-down those for this station, even though I did not particularly dislaike the artists or the songs.

I often wish I could thumbs-down a particular artist from a station. Today Judy Garland keeps showing up on my Billie Holiday station. Although the songs may fit the station, I practically never care for Judy Garland's vocals. I would like to keep the songs and style in the mix, but just thumbs-down the artist.

Similarly, somtimes I need to thumbs-down a song because it is too trendy, dated, or otherwise "corny"...

I must say that Pandora has expanded my knowledge and appreciation for artists that I would never have otherwise been exposed to, were it not for their very creative and brilliant selection algorythms. Excellent Job! Keep it up!

I have rather wide listening tastes and quickly found that rather than setting up a single station with everything I like that it was better to setup individual stations with similar music.

One station I setup was for what I thought would be a 'big band' type of genre. Worked great based upon the artists that I picked until all of the sudden 'Trickside' came up. I immediately thought, 'Why would they be playing this in a big band genre?' That was the first time I used the 'Why did you play this song' button. I moved 'Trickside' to a different station and no problem there after.

Overall, I have been very happy with the different music I have been hearing with the occasional music that needs to be moved.

One thing I do wonder about is why are there so many live recordings that are played? Although I like seeing live bands, I typically don't enjoy the live recordings as much as the studio versions. If I like the song/artist and give it the thumbs down because it is a live recording, does that mean that it won't play the studio version? I would like an option to 'turn-off' the live recordings.

For me it can be a lot of different reasons. Sometimes the music sounds great but the lyrics aren't really my taste. Since I just created my account today I only have two radio stations at the moment, both play the same genre of music but one is for the calmer side of the genre and the other for more louder/crazier stuff. So every once in a while something mellow will show up in my loud station, or vice versa, and I give it a thumbs down.

Other things are a little harder to describe. I can usually get a certain vibe from a song when i first hear it and I almost always give it a chance even if i don't like the vibe i am getting. Once though a song came up where i instantly thought "This is creepy", i stuck it out for a while but when that feeling didn't go away i had to give it a thumbs down.

On the whole though i think this website is absolutely amazing. I know I never would have heard a lot of the stuff i am hearing without it. And its really nice when one of my favorite songs pops up without me even having to enter it in myself.

First of all I have to say that I'm new to Pandora, but I was instantly hooked.

For the most part I've been really impressed with the ability to hit the mark with what I'm looking for. However, I'll share a experience that I recently had when trying to create a station.
I want to create a station that plays music like Gaelic Storm's more upbeat Irish pub songs. The songs are of course Irish, fast-paced, they feature heavy drum beats, flute, and some bagpipe. Some examples: Beggarman, Johnny Tarr, New York Girls. So far the songs that are playing aren't coming close.

That said, other stations that I've created are working just like I had hoped. Keep it up!

great comments so far - a few things -

seth - we are not currently playing celtic music, simply due to the decision by the designer of the music genome to classify it in the world music genome. that's a technical decision, not any kind of judgement, but in any case, the reason your celtic stations aren't good is because we have very little of that music analyzed. that will change, though I can't say for sure when...

and joe - if you feel that a song might be poorly analylzed, you can email pandora-supportATpandora.com and someone will check it out!

best,
mz

If I have a jazz channel playing seeded with only jazz, and something blues pops up i usually thumb it down even tho I love the blues, when I want jazz I want nothing else. I am also quick to thumb down a song if it sounds like inferior bitrate, bad compression junk (cold gin by kiss comes to mind). Pandora is a great service, it helps me get through the day. Cheers

i have been working to refine my station for about a year now (waiting to get back into it when canada is reconnected .. nudge, nudge).

since my station is quite refined when a song pops up my response to whether it belongs or not is fairly primal. did it flow well with the song before and is it going to get me to the song i want next. my love when artists i don't know pop into the play list but they have to fit. they have to move me seamlessly to the next song.

I like to create personal character stations, not genre, with impossible scope, just as a challenge to learn about music taste.

Usually i thumb down songs that don't fit into the station character, no matter if i like it. Then i also thumb down those which i really can't stand, although they match the character. The criterion of fate in this case is if it's really poor build/crafted, played, or recorded. I have a seperate staions for the most poorest or oddest pieces, making that the criterion, though ;)

I really like to exclude certain features from a single song. There are songs that fit perfectly into a station, even favourite, but they introduce a single feature that would screw up the whole thing. In this case, i would either say 'don't use this feature' or even 'this is only a guest-song, don't let it contibute to station definition'.

As an example, 'Who are you' from Astralasia is fitting good into my spacechill station http://www.pandora.com/stations/18aa0258fa20456fefe5bb4cf00c16d6955ae5128ebc8cb3>
but the features 'dry recording sound' and 'rock influences' call for trouble.

Greets, micha

--
"Finally, we're all americans" (Leonard Cohen)

I love Pandora. I'm new here, this is amazing.

I've only skipped a few songs. The reasons were:

Too loud or fast on a 'mellow' station
and
Too annoying of a cover of a smashing pumpkins song

Thanks Pandora!
Lisa

I don't thumb-down songs very often. In fact, it's tough for me to remember the last time I actually did thumb-down a song. However, when it does happen it is almost always because I based the station on a song or artist that has some qualities I don't like. For example, I like some of Slipknot's songs, because of the quick pace, heavy aesthetic, and talented guitar and drum-work. However, I can't stand when there is screaming in a song, it just doesn't sound musical to me. So when I make a slipknot station, I expect it to come up with some songs (such as Cradle Of Filth) that I'm going to have to thumb down, but in reality, I think this is a good thing. It means pandora recognizes ALL of the characteristics of a song, and not just the ones that MOST people are paying attention to. The whole point of the thumbs-down button is to take out the parts of that base song or artist you don't like, because you're never going to find the perfect artist that does nothing you don't like.

ALSO: I absolutely second the Concert Alert idea posted by Wonder Girl, it's a GREAT concept that would significantly increase the revenue given to artists. And you could even work with someone like TicketMaster to get you some ad $$$ in the bargain. Long live Pandora and internet radio!

I find myself hitting the "thumbs down" button when I get a steady stream of modern artists on a station I've tried to set up for classic/progressive/psychedlic pop rock (late 60s/early 70s). I don't mind a small amount of modern artists as long as they fit the feel of the station, but I am trying to hear songs from the original era, and the large percentage of modern songs makes me feel I am being marketed to rather than entertained.

I wish there was some way to reject era's of an artist. Y know, cool young elvis versus old schmaltzy elvis.

I have the hardest time with one station that I'm trying to balance on the edge of genres - I call it "folksy", but I'm really going for folk-tinged pop/rock. "Folk" being a broadish arena that might include country, african, celtic influences. For instance, The Hooters, Paul Simon's Graceland album, Loreena McKennitt. But it keeps sliding into more pure country/American folk music. I can't seem to get it to understand that I want the cross-over, not one or the other.

For me, when i'm listening to a song that I'm really enjoying, if im doing something, then the song can play through without me noticing, as background music, and there's the occasional song i know and love so well that'll make me sing along. Thumbs down though, happens when it doesnt feel right, and thats not that often, as when i downvote something i feel that i might be losing out on something, a certain branch from the tree, so i only downvote songs that i dont like, and i'd be embarressed for anyone else to hear me listening to.

sometimes it's the meaning of the lyrics - particularly what might be called "political" content.

I LOVE YOUR WEBPAGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is the best that has happened to me regarding music!!!!!!!

THANK YOU!

we really dont get the reason 4 posting a picture of all ugly men!!!!!!!!!1

Sometimes when a new song comes up that is completely random, I evaluate to see if the voice of the singer or rhythm of the song is anything like the previous bunch and if it is but just not up to par, such as the singer of the new song is singing 2 octaves higher and much faster or slower than many of the previous artists, it's generally a thumbs down, but on many occasions I have been listening to electronic music or whatever and then the next track will be an acoustic jam and this is most welcome, so its hit or miss, if it's out of left field more often than not I'll give it more of a chance than if it similar but not up to the same standards...

Thumbed down songs come in a few different flavors..

1) Out of the blue party-crasher- Sometimes i get a song that just...does not belong in the playlist in anyway. Wrong genre, wrong general tone, wrong everything. These tend to be more rare, but they happen.

2) songs based too heavily on the general attributes of seed songs- As an example, I recently tried to make a playlist of low-key electronic music with some jazz/r&b/rap elements...emphasis on the rap. My seed songs were Leftfield's "Dusted," Red Snapper's "Suckerpunch," and "the sleepless," Dub Pistol's "Official Chemical" and for a little non-lyric element i also added DJ Shadow's "fixed income". Pandora just didn't seem to recognize what I was going for, and wound up giving me a bunch of drum n' bass stuff.

3) Songs that veer a little too far from the initial intent of the playlist- Like when i make a channel based on the general aethetic of venus hum, and wind up with avril lavigne songs.

If you have any advice on #2, I'd love to hear it.

I can forgive Pandora when it plays a song out of my comfort zone. Even if I don't like those songs, I'm glad to have sampled them. But I really wish there were a way to tell the radio that some of the songs I input are not typical of the performer or genre they belong to. Two examples that come to my mind right now are Berlin's "Take My Breath Away", and "Rock n Roll around the clock". I know it kinda goes against what Pandora is about, but I wish I didn't have to thumb down ALL of Berlin's other songs.

Tempo seems to be a hard one to pin down. One of my stations is tuned to be a caffeine substitute, and every aspect of the music seems to be considered except the sheer velocity of it. It would almost be cool to turn off some factors, say instrument type, for stations which are not instrument-centric.

Then again, maybe I'm the only one that thinks that a few hundred check boxes per station would be fun.

People keep saying something about concert alerts...

isn't that what the "On Tour" overlay was? Is that not still around? I know I clicked a few, but maybe that was before the shiny new blue redesign or something.

I personally think it would rock to have a couple hundred check boxes per station (and maybe a couple for each song) - for the record.

As far as the actual question: I listen to music on Pandora for two reasons, and therefore reject music for two (main) reasons.

1] I am a Blues / Swing DJ (whoop) and I use Pandora as a way of finding new music that is really great, but can't necessarily be found through the normal avenues. In this sense I'm looking for a song that fits a kind of style (be it blues or big band swing, etc) but also something that's dance-able and 'great'. In that regard there's something intuitive about "eh.. that's not really a good song," even though it 'matches'.
On a similar note, I'll often [skip] or [Zzz] songs that I don't like b/c they're just not dance-able or 'good' (IMHO) for what I'm trying to do with them.

2] I also use Pandora in the 'normal' way (to just be a radio). I can usually tell within the first few measures if the song sucks (IMHO) (compared to what I want). A lot of the time it's just me being picky, but sometimes it's because the song isn't very good (again, IMHO).
It is times like these were I wish Pandora knew how popular a song was.. or if you could do like Netflix and profile each of us on how we rate songs and then know the "rating" of a song based off people who are similar to us (as far as rating their music). Just an idea.

I'm also surprised to hear that there is not 'tempo' gene that adds to the makeup of a song. I was sure there was. Maybe it just works out that way most of the time.

Thanks guys!

I would like to hear songs from the artists I put on my station more often. I also would like more Broadway musicals, like The Producers, Lion King, Wicked, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and various others.

The breadth of selection on each station is so vast, I've learned so much, Pandora has really recalibrated everything I ever thought about music -- and I studied to be a professional musician for, oh, hundreds of years and thought I knew a lot -- until Pandora. That's the good part. The thing that makes me thumbs down (or just skip) a song is usually when the mood abruptly shifts, from reflective and down-tempo (for example) to something brighter and more driving. For instance, I just finished a whole mellow sequence with Madeleine Peyroux and Dorothy Dandridge. Then all of a sudden, it clicked over to Nina Simone and a very strident feeling. I didn't like that. I like Nina Simone but the mood change was too abrupt. So I took a pass on the song but didn't thumbs down because I do like it...just not now. It's all so subjective. You guys are doing an amazing job and opening up worlds upon worlds of things. Don't change. We'll adapt.

it sometimes has to do with the identity of the artist or the content of the lyrics. like, if i want women vocalists in particular, or if i want people doing beatles covers across all kinds of genres. i feel like i'm trying to learn more about how the pandora programming works so that i can be more strategic in my thumbs up and thumbs down. but sometimes it's not about the music itself, really.

When I create stations, I try to get them to play a specific sub-genera or feel (like "virtuosic jazz guitar" or "complicated but bright and happy electronic"), and thumb according to what I think will produce the best results. I use several different tactics.

I've found that giving thumbs-up on the stuff that I'm looking for produces far better results than thumbs-down on the stuff that isn't - at least until I've thumbs-upped a few really good songs already. Giving too many thumbs-down marks too early seems to throw you into an unexpected sub-genera that it's difficult to escape from.

Often, I pay attention to the "Why did you play this song?" descriptions to see if there's a common attribute among the songs that miss the point of what I'm trying to do, and I give a thumbs down to one of those where the wrong attribute is prominent (I don't know if you guys weight the attributes by prominence/importance to the song, but this strategy has seemed to work either way).

Thumbs down works GREAT for making a station from an artist that plays in a few different styles. Give a thumbs down to a song of theirs that you're not looking for, and the station instantly begins playing everything you like. This works particularly well with jazz artists.

Here's an example. A while ago I made a "caustic off-beat IDM" station. I started with Yasushi Miura and an Autechre song as seeds. I gave thumbs-up to a half dozen songs that fit my description, and one thumbs-down on a song that was just ambient noise instead of caustic music (which was happening every fifth song or so). The thumbs down solved the problem, and the station has been my favorite ever since.

I don't thumbs down the music picked for me because it is a bad song, because many of them I do like. I thumbs down them because I feel they are in the wrong category I am picturing in my mind.

Joshua (above) is right on the money with energy level / emotional atmosphere as the chief reason songs seem a mismatch sometimes

Doggone you Pandora!
You've rendered my CD collection useless!
WHY?!!!

When I listen to Pandora radio and select which station or combination of stations I'm going to hear,I have a particular mood that I am in or want to be in.
I reject songs that don't fit in the continuity of the mood.
Sometimes it's the content of the song.Other times it's the production quality,the beat,the voice,it could be bunch of things.
There are times I will listen to a song I nornally wouldn't because it's on a station I created and so I listen for the reason it came up.
To paraphrase what the guy said about pornography
I can't tell you why I don't like a song,but I know why when I hear a song I don't like.
And much to your credit you hit the mark more than miss.
I love Pandora Radio!Just when I thought my love affair with radio was over because of the awful noise that passes for music,Pandora comes along.
It really is the penicle of the technology for me.
If I could draw,my entry for the Pandora poster would be a caveman laying on a rock slab in a cave that is lit by the glow of his computer.He's relaxed with a smile of contentment on his face.
The computer screen has the Pandora website on it and the caption would read:Pandora:Life is GOOD!

I agree with a comment that said there should be a list of musical attributes (the ones explaing why I'm hearing because it contains a certain rhytmn, key, or singing style) and be able to check off the boxes that apply and then play me songs based on the option(s) I selected. Pretty much what you already offer but more then just a song or artist search.

Eithersuchevent PANDORA is heaven!!!

Thank you for helping discover new music which is essentialy the goal...record companies should praise you!!!

Songs get a thumbs-down from me when they are a really bad fit for the station. They might not be bad songs, but just not what I wanted to listen to at the time.

But the reason I'm really commenting is to endorse WonderGirl's concert alert idea. Seems like a deal with Ticketmaster's database could be just the ticket.

I have a question following my comment. First though, I attend the Boston town hall on 9/6, and it was very enlightening from both the technology and business aspects. Okay, as for the thumbs down for me Vocals are key - a song can have great guitar work; however if the vocals doesn't sound good to me, then the song is a thumbs down. Conversely, if a song has not so good guitar work, though very good vocals, then I will continue to listen. Years ago in 80's while in H.S. we would debate whether the singer made the band or vice versa, and the consensus was that a great singer was necessary for a band to make it big. My question is can / does the Pandora algorithm weight certain dimensions more that are common across Thumbs Up (and not for the Thumbs Down)? My guess is that this is partially how the algorithm works. To take it a step further, can a particular attribute, e.g. vocals, be purposely weighted really high, to help refine the song selection process?

It depends on the station. I have one that I have a broad range of music that I can listen to at most any time, while writing, working on homework, reading, relaxing, etc. On that station, its mostly only if the song just really bothers me for some reason, or just doesn't fit. Sometimes though, those songs fit better in more specific stations.

In the more specific stations, I have more difficulty. I have a folk/bluegrass station built from Nickel Creek, so anything too much like the mainstream rock goes. In that one, I want the acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle, and such, not the electric guitar or heavy drumming. Those go.

I have the most difficulty with a station I built from Flogging Molly. I love their fusion of punk and celtic roots. My trouble is that the songs either veer into traditional rock/punk styles without the celtic influence, or they leave out the punk. Its difficult to get songs with both. Part of it is the apparent scarcity of such songs. As far as that goes, the best I can do is be persistent and keep searching for new song seeds that exemplify the style I want.

It would be nice if we were given a chance to specifiy what it is about a song or artist we like, to better fine tune a station.