Streaming

Inside Spotify Radio vs. Pandora – The Echo Nest Makes The Difference

image from www.google.comEvery time a new "Pandora killer" launches, my first question is what technology is driving song selection.  The answer matters because that's who/what is deciding what we listen to. Pandora has its own "Music Genome Project" which is really just a bunch of humans grading music. The result is that some indie bands have been left off Pandora playlists. Doesn't quite seem fair, does it? The Echo Nest offers a data driven alternative and Spotify Radio, which rolls out today, is powered by it.

The Echo Nest uses "deep music knowledge" (5 billion data points on 30 million songs) to comb Spotify's 15 million track catalog and create personalized radio stations based around songs or artists. Given how often The Echo Nest's open database is used by app developers, this partnership should also net some interesting Spotify Apps as well.

“Playlists are the cornerstone of the Spotify user experience,” states Jim Lucchese, CEO of The
Echo Nest. “The Echo Nest has invested heavily to ensure our intelligent playlist engine is the
most sophisticated in the world. Combining The Echo Nest’s intelligent playlist engine with
Spotify Radio’s incredibly intuitive and inherently social service will certainly give Spotify users
an amazing music discovery experience.”

The Echo Nest investors include Matrix Partners, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, and three co-founders of MIT Media Lab.

Bruce Houghton on 12/16/2011 in Streaming | Permalink | Comments (5)
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5 Comments

  1. I notice there is rarely any mention of Jango in these conversations. Their radio listening experience, in my opinion, is MUCH better than Pandora. Better songs, no ads, and you get to pick how much of an indie mix you want in your stream. They allow indies to buy spins just like Clear Channel. Are they too small to matter?
    Thanks

  2. pffft. digital payola blows. we need new models not shitty old ones amplified. and the radio on it sucks.

  3. Both Pandora and Spotify Radio are annoyingly predictable in their programming and do not satisfy music lover’s needs for music discovery. That my be stating the obvious. When will one of these services harness the power of music industry professionals? They are MUCH better at recommending music than any algorithm could ever be.
    Playlist Professional

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