Pandora (music service)
 
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 Pandora homepage in November 2016
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| Type of business | Public |
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| Available in | English |
| Traded as | : P |
| Founded | January 2000 (as Savage Beast Technologies) Oakland, California, U.S. |
| Headquarters | Oakland, California, U.S. |
| No. of locations | 26 |
| Area served | United States |
| Founder(s) | Will Glaser Jon Kraft Tim Westergren |
| Key people | Tim Westergren (CEO) |
| Services | Internet radio |
| Revenue |
 $1.38 billion (FY 2016) |
| Employees | 2,200+ |
| Subsidiaries | Rdio (as of December 22, 2015), Next Big Sound, Ticketfly |
| Website | pandora |
| Alexa rank |
 371 (May 2017) |
| Advertising | Banner ads, video ads, audio ads |
| Registration | Optional (required to save stations) |
| Users | 81 million active (2016), 4.3 million subscribers (2016) |
| Current status | Active |
| Native client(s) on | Universal Windows App, iOS, Android |
| Written in | Java |
Pandora Internet Radio (also known as Pandora Radio or simply Pandora) is a music streaming and automated music recommendation service powered by the Music Genome Project. As of 1 August 2017, the service, operated by Pandora Media, Inc., is available only in the United States. On 14 July 2017, Pandora emailed Australasian users to notify them that the New Zealand and Australian access to Pandora will cease on 31 July 2017. The service plays songs that have similar musical traits. The user then provides positive or negative feedback (as "thumbs up" or "thumbs down") for songs chosen by the service, and the feedback is taken into account in the subsequent selection of other songs to play. The service can be accessed either through a web browser or by downloading and installing application software on the user's device such as a personal computer or mobile phone.
In 2000, Pandora Media Inc. began as Savage Beast Technologies, and was founded by Will Glaser, Jon Kraft and Tim Westergren. The idea was to create a separate, individualized radio station for each user having just the "good" music on it, with none of the "junk" that other users like. The company quickly ran through its initial two million dollars in funding and in 2001 the company ran out of money. Founder Tim Westergren convinced the fifty employees of the company to work for two years without pay.
Initially the company pursued a transitional strategy of technology licensing to third parties including AOL, Best Buy, Barnes & Noble, and Tower Records. In 2004 the company returned to its initial vision of producing customized radio stations and changed its name to Pandora Media. The website began as only a paid service but quickly changed to an advertising service to make it also available free for users.
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