Pandora Internet Radio Essay

One of my favorite radio medians is Pandora Internet Radio. I enjoy Pandora for the simple fact of variety there over a 700,000 songs in the database. There are many great radio stations out there. However, after awhile they continue to cycle through the same songs over and over. With Pandora the listeners can suggest specific artists, or genres of music, or a comedian and Pandora not only plays that artist, but artist that are similar to them through that station. Through the Music Genome Project, a team of musician-analysts listens to songs. They study the details of the song to compile a list of artist with similar sounds to create the different playlists. As a member of Pandora you are allowed to create up to a 100 unique â€Å"stations.† (Pandora, 2013) Pandora’s mission statement: â€Å"We believe in the value of music and have a profound respect for those who create it. We like all kinds of music, from the most obtuse bebop, to the most tripped-out drum n bass, to the simplest catchy pop tune. Our mission is to help you connect with the music YOU love† (Pandora, 2013). Pandora has a single mission and that is to play music the listeners will love. They have added comedy to target listeners who enjoy standup comedy and lighten their day with a laugh (Pandora, 2013). I have an app on my phone and can listen to Pandora wherever I am. I plug my phone into speakers and listen to Pandora everyday. I did further research on the about Pandora page on Thursday March 28th. When entering the Pandora site, the first thing you will notice is the blue screen with Pandora written across it in white. That screen then brings you to their home page. The logo is the name Pandora that can be found in the upper left hand corner of the screen. According to the 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, blue is the color of leadership and is used to communicate stability (Ries, 2002). Under the law of shapes the rectangle is the most preferred shape is more of an eye catcher than the other shapes. The logo in the app store is a white square with a blue uppercase P and Pandora written underneath it in blue as well. Pandora means â€Å"all gifted† in Greek, Pandora received many gifts from the God’s including the gift of music (Pandora, 2013). Tim Westergren, a long time musician started Savage Beast Technologies in 1999, later on launching Pandora in 2005. One of the main competitors is iHeart Radio; iHeart offers there listeners to not only find artists, but also allows them to look up radio stations from around the United States. The iHeart logo is a lower case I with a satellite around it shaped as a heart in white and the background color is red (iHeart, 2013). Slacker Radio is another competitor of Pandora. Slacker is an interactive radio that also allows the listener to chose an artists, or specific genre of music and creates a playlist according to music choice. The logo for Slacker is an orange circle with white wings with a white uppercase S that looks like a tilted music note in the middle of the circle (Slacker, 2013). Pandora uses a Wordmark logo; iHeart and Slacker both use a Pictorial Mark to display their different brands. As a customer of DirecTv I received a newsletter in the mail informing me that there was a Pandora app on DirecTv. Although I already have an account that I can listen to on my phone or computer, I was unaware that there was an app through DirecTv. This advertisement strategy was a great idea and I immediately followed the steps to get Pandora on my television. Pandora can be located on over 200 consumer electronic devices varying from smart-phones to TV’s to set-top boxes to Blu-ray players and is able to stream visual audio, and interactive advertising to computers. There interactive advertising extends from computers, smart-phones, iPads, in-home connected devices and even cars. While a song is playing there are artist biographies and discographies. They also offer lyrics to many of the songs. There is an email sign up to receive alerts whenever Pandora Media, Inc. post new information and updates. There is a thumb’s up and down button at the bottom of the page for listeners to like or dislike the songs they are listening to. Pandora offers a sense of community through users profile pages. Under the profile page listeners can follow other Pandora members similar to a Twitter page. The music feed allows listeners to see what others are creating or listening to for stations. This is a great place for listeners to broaden the music they listen to by seeing what others like. There are many underground bands and artists that have not reached the mainstream that have their music through Pandora. The target market of Pandora is everyone who enjoys music no matter age, gender, or preferred genre. The target customer listens to music at home, gym, or while in the car. With such a large variety of music, everyone can enjoy listening to Pandora. There is music for children all the way up to the elderly. Pandora wants to satisfy everyone. The iPhone 5 users have a few more features through Pandora there are more sharing options located on the screen, to allow users to share their music with Facebook and Twitter. The original Pandora is a free app they however do have options to upgrade for $3.99 to listen without commercials. Pandora recently partnered up with Chrysler’s Uconnect Access, this allows Pandora users to sync their favorite radio stations and listen through the radio in the car. This partnership brings Pandora up to 20 US automotive brands (Yeung, 2013). Pandora has Facebook and Twitter accounts to interact and keep listeners updated on new information and the latest apps they offer. There is also the updated email alerts. The Pandora app is available through all apps stores, and in 2008 Pandora became one of the most consistently downloaded apps in the Apple store (Pandora, 2013). Today Pandora offers many different apps many are free and others do need to paid for.