Tuesday, March 11th 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
David Hyman CEO, MOG Inc
Nancy Miller Sr Editor, Wired Magazine
Anil Dewan Dir of New Media, KCRW Radio
Tom Conrad CTO, Pandora
Anu Kirk Dir of Product Mgmt/Rhapsody, Rhapsody America LLC
What is going to be the new personalized music experience compared to mainstream radio experience?
-things are moving towards a much more personalized type of radio as wireless networks get more prevalent
-Internet Radio isn’t really radio – more a mode of delivering content to people – that image (radio) can be destructive.
-Infinite number of stations
-interactivity
-metadata (album cover, label)
-future holds community (similar tastes)
-location
How will P2P and internet radio join together in the future?
Three categories of community
-quantitative metadata driven
-qualitative similar bands
-social and community influence
Should traditional radio have an option of taste driven interactive but keep DJ making choices for those who like it?
It is just the platform – “how do we do radio better?” It isn’t about the technology – give the user what they want ignoring how it is delivered. Maybe the challenge is making it easier to find those stations (traditional) that fit your preferences.
Why did we leave traditional radio? Because there was more diversity online. Where is that diversity online? Even satellite radio is lacking some of that diversity.
Pandora is all about getting you want you want – there is nothing about popularity it is a blank slate about coming to your site. We aren’t telling you who is popular, you get what you want and enjoy. Pandora is radio, but there is a lot of good about traditional radio. One button for music another button to change music. Repetition is an important part of it – helps you get what you like. There are many values to radio and it is just how important those values are to your listening experience.
What do the people want in radio? People are falling out of love with music because they can’t get what they used to like when they determined their music preferences. Pandora can get you back into things – but “new is scary.”
There is a certain amount of effort that people are willing to put in when finding and listening to music. Fortunately the possibilities with the internet make that limitless.
The panelists got to a point where they are going at each other a bit trying to figure out “which is better.” Their product is better because of X. The conversation seems to be each of the groups sayin, “some people use our product because of X. Some people like our model.”
Pandora is less than 1% of all internet radio stations. They view their competitors as Clear Channel, Satellite, stuff. They are bigger than any terrestrial radio station.
When will the reality of ubiquitous broadband get internet radio off the ground?
-Pandora is available on some mobile phones Sprint & ATT
RIAA licensing issues:
Ultimately internet radio will survive, but is still up in the air on the royalties officially.
Traditional radio is the music business trying like mad trying to get their music on the air (breaking the law).