Opening Pandora’s Box

Tim Westergren, the founder and CEO of Pandora Radio, will be speaking Wednesday, Nov. 10 at 3 p.m. in Kresge Hall.

Pandora is an Internet radio website that allows users to create customized stations to suit their musical tastes.

The name Pandora is a reference to the Greek myth of Pandora's Box that tells the well-known story of the dangers of curiosity. Pandora Radio, on the other hand, seeks to reward this curiosity.

According to Pandora's website, their aim is to "reward the musically curious among us with a never-ending experience of music discovery."

The backbone of Pandora lies in the Music Genome Project, which was started in 2000 by Westergren and a group of other musicians and music-lovers. Their goal was to isolate the very essence of music by defining its many different attributes, or "genes." These genes include elements like rhythm and lyrics.

"The Music Genome Project is the secret sauce that powers Pandora," Westergren said. "This very detailed musical taxonomy, which represents ten years of analysis by a large team of trained musicians, is the engine that creates and refines the personal playlists."

Westergren also used his own experience as a musician as fuel for the creation of Pandora. He is a pianist with a background in blues and jazz and received his B.A. from Stanford University where he studied music theory and composition.

One of his primary goals in creating Pandora is to give other lesser-known musicians the chance to be heard.

"The idea [for Pandora] was inspired by my experiences as a working musician," Westergren said. "I spent many years performing and touring, getting to know lots of very talented musicians all struggling to make a living. Their principle challenge was finding some effective means to get discovered."

Westergren's talk is being sponsored by the Sioux Falls Jazz and Blues Society. Rob Joyce, the executive director of the society and Augustana music professor, believes that bringing a young entrepreneur to campus would be interesting to students across many disciplines.

"With Pandora being such a popular music site, I figured students would be interested in hearing from its founder," Joyce said. "Communications, business, computer, music and more majors would all find something from meeting Tim [Westergren]. So when they contacted me, I thought how can I bring this to Augie?"

In his presentation, Westergren will be telling the story of Pandora's creation and giving the audience an inside glimpse into the site's inner workings. Westergren will also be opening up the floor for any questions students might have.

"We've had a long and difficult journey getting here and I think there are many useful lessons for students because there's nothing like learning from experience."

"My advice for young entrepreneurs is to have the courage to chase after an idea, even if it seems crazy," Westergren said. "And, if you do, find someone to be your partner. It's really hard to do this alone."