10. Pandora: Disintermediator or Disintermediated? For Pandora, one of the biggest players in Internet radio, figuring out the future is both challenging and intimidating. If the regular challenges of growing a new company aren’t enough, Pandora also faces a market that is reeling in turmoil. In the new digital world, the way people listen to music continues to change dramatically. It seems likely that Pandora will either lead the changes or fall victim to them. Pandora was founded just over a decade ago. At that time, a vast majority of music listeners were still getting their groove on in one of two ways: They either popped a CD into their home, car, or personal CD player or they turned on the old AM/FM radio. But the advent
11th edition (2013)

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Each of the 850,000 songs from 80,000 different artists in Pandora’s library has been analyzed and coded by a professional musician. Each song is rated on as many as 500 different musical attributes or “genes.” Each gene corresponds to a music characteristic, such as gender of the lead vocalist, level of distortion on the electric guitar, syncopation, and vocal harmonies, to name just a few. Pandora’s music analysts must pass application tests. As junior analysts, they are required to sit in the same room with other analysts so they can regularly peel back their headphones and engage the others about the music they’re coding. Senior analysts can take their work on the road – often dissecting songs between gigs as they play on tour. “That is the magic bullet for us,” Westergren says of the company’s human element. “I can’t overstate it. It’s been the most important part of Pandora. It defines us in so many ways.” Pandora takes this unmatched competency for coding music and adds features and options that further differentiate its service. For starters, listeners can choose from two subscription plans. On the free plan, listeners hear an advertisement every now and then, but far fewer ads than are heard on terrestrial radio. This plan also sets certain user limits, such as a 40