Pandora's Music Box

What's next for Pandora? We're really interested in finding ways to allow people to listen to it on the phone, etc. I don't have anything I can talk about right now, but we want to make this an anytime, anywhere experience.

You look at a lot of new music. Why are there so few blockbusters? Is it a "long-tail" phenomenon, where people are separating into niches? The audience in general is starting to move down the tail. Technology is making it possible for people to focus their experience in ways that are relevant for them uniquely. On Pandora, there are hundreds of thousands of songs and artists that have been used as the seeds for listeners' stations, so the entry point for our listeners is very broad.

Is this the best of times or worst of times for someone starting a band? I think it's a great time to be a musician. There are some downsides, like the demise of the CD, which was an attractive economic base for a musician. But the access that you have now, as a brand-new band to a mass audience, is unprecedented. When I was in a band, all you could do was drive your van all over the country and try to find your audience, five people by five people. That's a burnout.

© 2007