Tim Westergren Westergren is a self-described "sucker for a good pop song."
5. Tim Westergren, Founder of the Music Genome Project It's not always easy to discover new music that appeals to you. Once you find a band you like, you might stick with that band for years without really exploring other options. Even worse, you might buy an album after hearing a song you like only to find out that none of the other music on the CD appeals to you. Tim Westergren wanted to make the process of discovering music fun again. To that end, he co-founded the Music Genome Project in 2000 with several other musicians and technologists. The mission of the project is to analyze a piece of music and assign it attributes called genes. There are genes that describe a song's tempo, volume, instrumentation, genre and much more. The project identifies hundreds of genes. From this project emerged the Web service Pandora. Pandora is a streaming Internet radio service that helps users find music they like. The user starts by creating a free profile and identifying a favorite song or band. Then Pandora consults the Music Genome Project and begins to pull songs from its massive database that share some of the qualities found in the user's initial choice. When you listen, you'll hear a mixture of familiar songs as well as music you've never heard before. Westergren made a career out of listening to cool music -- not a bad gig! |
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