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January 28, 2008
Play Listen Repeat Vol. 28
I've been listening to Johannes Brahms' Intermezzo in Eb Major off and on for the last week or so, after being led to it by something I read in Evan Eisenberg's excellent book entitled The Recording Angel (Eisenberg refers to Brahms as "the great consoler").
My interest was piqued by that phrase, although as I sought out some Brahms, I wasn't feeling any strong, immediate need or desire for comfort. In listening, however, and in hearing the aforementioned intermezzo in particular, I was influenced, somehow. I felt the emergence of a melancholy feeling, which was then addressed and assuaged by the music. I was in fact comforted.
The mystery of how this kind of thing happens has been pondered and expressed by so many smart and articulate folks that I think I had better keep my ears open and my mouth shut on the issue, at least for a while. In the meantime, I wonder if any of you out there have thoughts about this particular conundrum:
Does music create the feelings you have while you listen, or does it lure them out of you?
Can music impose a feeling upon you that you don't really have? Can it introduce you to a feeling that you've never had (if there is such a thing)?
Considering the fairly extraordinary fact that in the span of five minutes you can 1. learn of a piece's existence, 2. search it out, 3. listen to it, and 4. thereafter find yourself listening to that piece and only that piece for days afterward; how is it that certain pieces of music are so seductive and/or addictive?
yours,
mz
Posted by Michael Zapruder at 10:16 AM | Comments (26)
January 22, 2008
Las Vegas Get-together Wednesday, February 6th, 2008!
We are having a Pandora meet-up on the UNLV Campus in Las Vegas. Hope to see you there--excited to meet our Las Vegas listeners!
If you would like to attend, please RSVP by sending an email to Angie at tour@pandora.com with Las Vegas in the subject line.
When: Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 @ 7 PM
Where: UNLV Campus, Carol C. Harter Classroom Building Complex, (CBC)--Room A112 (map)
Cheers,
Tim
Posted by Tim Westergren at 02:34 PM | Comments (13)
January 16, 2008
Oakland Get-together Thursday, February 7th, 2008!
We are having a hometown Pandora meet-up at the Historic Sweet's Ballroom in Oakland. I'm excited to meet our local listeners! To RSVP for this event please email Angie at tour@pandora.com.
When: Thursday, February 7th, 2008 @ 7 PM
Where: The Historic Sweet's Ballroom, 1933 Broadway in Oakland (map)(directions)
Cheers,
Tim
Posted by Tim Westergren at 04:04 PM | Comments (13)
January 15, 2008
LABELS AND PUBLISHERS FORCE BLOCKING OF PANDORA IN THE UK
This is a blog post I hoped I would never have to write.
As you probably know, in July of 2007 we had to block usage of Pandora outside the U.S. because of the lack of a viable license structure for internet radio streaming in other countries. It was a terrible day. We did however hold out some hope that a solution might exist for the UK, so we left it unblocked as we worked diligently with the rights organizations to negotiate an economically workable license fee. After over a year of trying, this has proved impossible. Both the PPL (which represents the major record labels and some independent record labels) and the MCPS/PRS Alliance (which represents music publishers) have demanded per track performance minima rates which are far too high to allow ad supported radio to operate and so, hugely disappointing and depressing to us as it is, we have to block the last territory outside of the US.
It continues to astound us that the industry is not working more constructively to support the growth of services that introduce listeners to new music, and that are totally supportive of paying fair royalties to the creators of music. I don't often say such things, but the course being charted by the labels and publishers and their representative organizations is nothing short of disastrous for artists whom they purport to represent...
The only consequence of failing to support companies like Pandora that are attempting to build a sustainable radio business for the future will be the continued explosion of piracy, the continued constriction of opportunities for working musicians, and a worsening drought of new music for fans. As a former working musician myself, I find it very troubling.
We have been told to sign these totally unworkable license rates or switch off, non-negotiable...so that is what we are doing. Streaming illegally is just not in our DNA, and we have to take the threats of legal action seriously.
We know what an epicenter of musical creativity and fan support the UK has always been, which makes the prospect of not being able to launch there and having to block our first listeners all the more upsetting for us.
If you would like to be kept abreast of the situation, please drop us your email so we can stay in touch - there's a simple way to do that on the home webpage you're now presented with if you try to access Pandora from the UK. There may well come a day when we need to make a direct appeal for your support to move for governmental intervention as we have in the US. In the meantime we have no choice but to turn off service to the UK.
Since we emailed UK listeners last week to inform them of this impending change, we have been inundated with public and industry support. There have also been many questions - we'll be very proactive in responding to any comments/questions that pop up on the blog here. There is a lot of confusion around this topic.
Pandora will stop streaming to the UK as of January 15th, 2008.
Again, on behalf of myself and everyone at Pandora, to any resident of Wales, Ireland, England and Scotland that reads this post, I'm very, very sorry.
Tim (Founder)
Posted by Tim Westergren at 06:57 PM | Comments (86)
Play Listen Repeat Vol. 27
Greetings listeners!
The holidays are well over now, and as we get going with the new year, I thought it would be interesting to glance back and find out what music you encountered, received, or gave people over the holidays.
Call it "gift music."
Do tell!
cheers,
mz
Posted by Michael Zapruder at 11:03 AM | Comments (16)
January 13, 2008
Vegas recap
It was delightful to perform on the stage of the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus. Pictured above are Will.I.Am and Jennifer Zeidler from Pandora.
We have some more of Jack Spilberg's photographs for you in the extension. See you at MacWorld.
Peace,
Kevin
Will.I.Am, Yoko Ono and Natasha Bedingfield
Lizzie Widhelm (of Pandora) and Will.I.Am (of Black Eyed Peas)
The aforementioned Lizzie demonstrating the delight of free, personalized net radio
Posted by Kevin at 01:55 AM | Comments (3)
January 09, 2008
SAVE THE DATE! Oakland Get-Together February 7th, 2008
Details to be announced soon!
When: Tuesday, February 7th, 2008
Where: TBD
Cheers,
Tim
Posted by Tim Westergren at 03:00 PM | Comments (6)
SAVE THE DATE! Las Vegas Get-Together February 6th, 2008
Details to be announced soon!
When: Wednesday, February 6th, 2008
Where: TBD
Cheers,
Tim
Posted by Tim Westergren at 02:59 PM | Comments (1)
January 08, 2008
Pandora in Las Vegas
Hey there... are you in Las Vegas this week? Several of us are in town for CES, and would love to meet you in person.
Monday through Wednesday (7 Jan through 9 Jan), we will be in the CES Concierge Tent, and the Pandora crew has put together a few fun shows for you.
Noon: MUSICMANIA
A live music trivia game show, with gallons of prizes, both for the contestants and for the people sitting in the audience.
3pm: THE GENOME TOUR
We show how Pandora's musicologists look at a new song. It's a step-by-step simulation of the way we bring a new song to your stations. For this 3pm show, there... will... be... beer. Laws prohibit us from saying how much this beer costs (if that tells you anything).
Come on down and say hello, eh?
Pictured above is the fantastic John Lennon Educational Tour Bus, a wonderful non-profit organization which I'll write more about later. It's a truly inspiring project designed to bring recording and musicmaking technology into the hands and minds of young students. Pictured L-R here are Will.I.Am, Yoko Ono, Natasha Bedingfield, and Pat Monahan.
Peace,
Kevin
p.s.: a less pixelated version of the above photograph coming soon
Posted by Kevin at 12:00 AM | Comments (7)
January 07, 2008
What's On Your Mind?
Hey all - happy new year!
Last year we talked a lot about things like what we think music might be, what it is like to listen to music, how we think music works, whether there's any way to determine whether one piece of music is better than another, and so on. Let's call it musical aesthetics....
We also talked about our favorite music books, specific musical discoveries we've made, our musical histories, and the like. Call that comparing notes....
And last but not least, we talked about Pandora-related things like what happens when something doesn't "fit" on a station, how you use Pandora in your everyday life, and so on.
What do you think about this list of subjects? What, if anything, would you want to add to it? What would you like to discuss with me and with your fellow listeners? What answers, or questions, do you think we can track down?
Share your thoughts, and I'll keep a list and make sure the weekly posts make periodic contact with our collective interests.
Right on. Here's looking forward to discovering a lot of music and about music in the '08.
listening,
mz
Posted by Michael Zapruder at 11:15 AM | Comments (71)
January 03, 2008
Conversation about music...
One of our advertisers, Energizer has created a discussion board for Pandora listeners. There are a handful of music topics if you're interested in joining an online conversation, including the 'gig guide' for folks to talk about shows. Turns out people like talking about music!
Tim (Founder)
Posted by Tim Westergren at 10:47 AM | Comments (8)
