Reciva (Cambridge, UK) and Pandora (Oakland, CA) today announced
their partnership to make Pandora available on Reciva-powered Internet
Radio receivers and networked devices in the US. Products from more
than 30 Consumer Electronics brands are expected to be upgraded to
offer Pandora´s unique Internet radio service.
Pandora (www.pandora.com) is a personalized music service which
has exploded in popularity to more than 10 million users, almost
entirely by word of mouth. Pandora makes listening to favorite music
and discovering new music simple and fun. Users just type in a song or
artist that they like, and within seconds, Pandora delivers a free and
personalized radio station with a continuous stream of songs that fit
the same sound and style.
The songs are selected based on the Music Genome Project,
Pandora´s innovative system that utilizes highly trained musicians to
analyze music one song at a time. These musicians identify hundreds of
different musical qualities of each recording, including melody,
harmony, rhythm, instrumentation, arrangement, lyrics and vocals.
Using this analysis, the listener´s personalized radio stations are
created
Reciva-powered radios allow users easy and convenient access
thousands of live radio stations from across the world without the
need for a PC. These are mostly terrestrial broadcasters streaming
their broadcast signal over the Internet in a process known as
"simulcasting". The addition of Pandora to the Reciva platform adds a
unique and highly personalized service that is tailored to the user´s
preferences.
Users can rate songs on Pandora through the "Reply" button on
every Reciva powered Internet Radio with either "thumbs up" or "thumbs
down" so Pandora can immediately adjust the station´s programming, and
they can pause a song as well as skip a song that they don´t want to
hear. Using the "Reply" button, listeners can also bookmark a song,
and the song name and artist will be saved.
"The partnership with Pandora brings one of the most frequently
requested services to the Reciva platform" said Andrew Rhomberg,
director of business development and strategy at Reciva. "We already
offer a very comprehensive platform of audio services, both premium
and free-to-listen, but fills a major gap, with the addition of a
truly personalized, yet expertly crafted radio experience that has
developed a very loyal following."
"We are very enthusiastic about our partnership with Reciva," said
Pandora´s Founder, Tim Westergren. "As personalized radio becomes an
anytime-anywhere experience, home networked devices are an important
platform for Pandora. The accelerating growth of connected audio
products is further evidence of the sweeping changes that are
redefining radio."
About Reciva
Reciva is the global market leader in Internet radio technology.
Reciva´s Gatepass(TM) platform, which is at the heart of all
Reciva-enabled Internet radios, provides Internet radio services via
the Reciva Gateway. Reciva-enabled Internet radio devices can play
back online radio in almost every format including MP3, Microsoft(R)
Windows Media Player, RealAudio(R) Player, AAC (the format of iTunes),
Ogg Vorbis and many others. Reciva´s technology is available as a
software license or in the form of the "Barracuda", "Stingray" or
"Mako" hardware modules providing consumer electronics (CE) companies
and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) with a turnkey solution.
Reciva´s Gateway technology delivers regularly updated and
verified Internet radio station lists to its internet radio products,
allowing listeners to access many thousands of online radio broadcasts
without the need for a PC.
The Reciva Radio Portal, www.reciva.com, enables listeners to
access the same stations via their PC. They can build customised
station lists and access subscription based music services to play via
their Reciva enabled radio.
Reciva is a privately held company based in Cambridge, UK.
http://www.reciva.com
About Pandora Media(TM)
Pandora (www.pandora.com) is a personalized radio service,
available anytime and anywhere on the PC, in the home and on connected
devices. Pandora is based on the Music Genome Project, which began in
2000 and is the most thorough analysis of music ever undertaken. Each
composition in this massive collection, which includes Pop, Rock,
Jazz, Electronica, Hip Hop, Country, Blues, R&B, Latin and Classical,
is analyzed by one of more than 50 trained musicians, and assessed
against up to 400 distinct musical attributes (encompassing melody,
harmony, rhythm, etc.) to capture its unique musical identity. Pandora
uses this information to build playlists based on musical similarity.
By simply entering a favorite song or artist, a listener is instantly
launched into a personalized listening experience, full of new
discovery as Pandora explores their favorite part of the music
universe. Listeners can create up to 100 of these personal radio
stations and refine them by providing feedback via the Pandora radio
tuner. Additionally, listeners can create profiles, search for other
listeners in the Pandora community who have similar musical tastes,
and find stations built by other listeners, using artist and song
names as well as genre and mood search terms. The music analyst team
works daily to keep the Music Genome Project updated with the latest
releases, emerging artists, and an ever-deepening collection of
catalogue titles.
