Pandora's box
Oct 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Craig Birkmaier
Will mass personalization change the way we consume entertainment?
With the Music Genome as its basis, a new Internet music service is demonstrating how dumb, impersonal computers can assist with mass personalization of media content. Pandora Internet Radio is available via an Internet browser and on a range of mobile devices such as Apple's iPhone. (See “Web links.”) In a matter of minutes, an individual can create a radio station that streams music based on his or her preferences. Pick an artist or a song, and Pandora will make recommendations. Give a recommendation a thumb up, and it will find more music with genetic links. Likewise, a thumb down helps to identify what you don't like. Once you have a profile in place, you can turn on your “station” and stream music to your computer or phone.
Apple just added a similar feature to iTunes called Genius. (See “Web links.”) Select a song, and the Genius sidebar shows other music that is similar. A few clicks and you have a new playlist based on music in your iTunes library. And Genius also recommends new purchases from the iTunes store that complement the music in your library.
It is not difficult to extrapolate how this kind of search technology is going to affect entertainment television. One particularly interesting aspect of this approach is that it may help hook-up independent producers with potential consumers of their content.
The broadcast world depends on massive promotion to make you aware of its programs. Radio ads hawk TV shows. The TV talk show circuit is used to promote TV shows, movies, music and books. And radio continues to be the promotional arm of a rapidly changing music industry.
When consumers take the time to search for content, and use services like Pandora Radio, much of the promotional advantage of the media conglomerates is lost. The individual determines what he or she wants, and computers match this up with metadata that describes the content.
The only caveat is the data itself. Who creates the data? How does content get listed in the database? Can content owners buy preferential placement as they do with the Google search engine today?
There are as many questions about this brave new world as there are proven solutions. What is clear is that Pandora's mass media box has been opened, and the media conglomerates no longer have as much power to control what we see.
Craig Birkmaier is a technology consultant at Pcube Labs.
Send questions and comments to: craig.birkmaier@penton.com
Web links
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Wikipedia definition of Pandora's box
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora%27s_box -
Pandora Internet Radio
www.pandora.com -
What's new in iTunes 8
www.apple.com/itunes/whatsnew
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