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Pandora

Pandora Goes To Hollywood: Making Music For MoviesNovember 19

Think about your favorite movies.

Star Wars.

Edward Scissorhands.

Citizen Kane.

The Incredibles.

What would those movies be without the music that John Williams, Danny Elfman, Bernard Herrmann and Michael Giacchino composed for them?

Here's a video we made about the craft of composing for film.

Tim Westergren's whole concept for the Music Genome Project came out of the years he spent as a film composer, actually. The challenges he faced while getting directors to articulate their musical requests led him to think about a better way to make recommendations...
hence Pandora. But he can talk more about that.

Since we're on the topic, what is your favorite film score? Mine is Ennio Morricone's score for The Mission.

Thanks for watching,
Kevin

PREMIERE! Pandora's Concert SeriesNovember 12

I can't overstate how excited I am that this is out there in public now: Our very first footage of live music performance on Pandora.

This is just the beginning of the Pandora Concert Series, in which we will bring you video of great performers singing and playing, and talking about the creative process behind their songs.

We also couldn't be happier that our first guest artist is Tift Merritt. Esquire magazine voted her "Best Female Voice" this year, and you will soon hear why. She manages to fold in elements of folk and classic soul while making them all her own, with a distinctive tone and a passionate delivery.

With each week's featured artist, we will feature four songs from this North Carolinian. First, "Good Hearted Man," performed live at Pandora. Check back tomorrow and in the days after, and we will have more songs posted.

(Update: here are "Keep You Happy," "I

Apple Store Meetups - LA, Boston, ChicagoNovember 10

We're fast approaching 2 million registered iPhone users... Crazy! To celebrate this entry to the world of free mobile radio, Apple has generously allowed us to host some show-and-tells at their stores around the country. I'll be sharing some Pandora history, new developments, and a deep dive into the iPhone, which we love so much...

Hope you'll join me for an informative and hopefully interactive get together at one of these beautiful store, uh.. I mean museum, locations:

Santa Monica, Thursday November 13th, 7pm
1248 Third Street Promenade (310) 576 1011

Boston, Monday November 17th, 12 Noon
815 Boylston Street (617) 385 9400

Chicago, Tuesday December 9th, 7pm
679 North Michigan Ave., (312) 981 4104

Cheers. Tim (Founder)

Singing Harmonies, on VideoNovember 5

Here's five minutes you'll be glad you spent.

Two great singers, Greg Giles and Kelly Atkins (left), joined us to talk about different ways you can sing harmony:

Contrary motion
Parallel motion
Unison
Counterpoint
Antiphony (call and response)
Drone

Motion graphics artist Daniel Cardozo illustrated the piece, so we get to see those melodic and harmonic lines moving across the screen as they're sung.

Let us know what you think, and also what other types of videos you would like to see on here. We, as always, are mostly ears.

We have also posted the sequel to our video about the Knitting Factory in New York, where we get the full backstage tour. Enjoy!

Kevin

The Musicology Show: Country SongwritingOctober 24

When he's not here working at Pandora's headquarters, you might find JJ Schultz hosting a great weekly open mic night at Hotel Utah in San Francisco. You might also find him with pen in hand working on new songs. His three albums of original songs range from folk to country to other strains of Wisconsin-bred Americana. Today, however, we focus on that country music. We get into classic country songwriting, looking at how major-key melodies mix with sad lyrics to establish a setting for those vivid, very specific images.

Thanks for listening,
Kevin