I created a Claude Debussy channel on Pandora. (BTW, I have a paid subscription.) I get a couple of Debussys, but then Pandora wanders off into Beethoven, Bach, Mendelssohn, etc., and while I like those composers, too, when I’m in the mood for Debussy and Debussy-like music, I don’t want Bach. You can only reject so many choices in an hour. How can I get it to give me mostly Debussy (or whoever) instead of when I order chicken, getting trays of rattlesnake, frog legs, alligator ("You’ll like these-- they taste just like chicken!)?
I don’t think you can force Pandora to stick mostly with a particular artist. That isn’t what it is designed to do. Think of it like a radio station where you get to specify your tastes very specifically but still don’t have direct control over the content. I believe that is a big reason Pandora was tolerated by the music industry early on while similar sites that let users specify content directly came under fire.
There are other services now that let you create specific playlists but I don’t have enough experience with them to recommend one.
www.playlist.com lets you do what you want but I don’t know about the legality or how well it works.
You probably can’t, very well. Someplace under their interface is a “why are you playing this” choice, which will show you what features that piece has that you apparently like. Their keys tend to be subjective impressions, not technical musical descriptions. The whole model seems to work better for pop - I would guess that they haven’t fine-tuned the parameters in their DB for classical. I have an “alt country” channel started from Son Volt, Uncle Tupelo, etc, that it does a good job with.
In order to keep the interface simple, they aren’t giving you many knobs to turn. One thing I might try is further seeding the channel with a few more composers you consider to be “Debussy-like”, so that it has a broader range of acceptable seeds to start from.
Yeah, for artist-specific listening, try playlist.com as mentioned or grooveshark, rd.io, spotify, or even youtube.
Pandora’s bad with classical music, I always have the same issue. The problem is that:
- It doesn’t have enough sub-categories in the DB for classical (it thinks Bach is the same thing as Debussy is the same thing as flamenco guitar)
- Not enough users are hitting the feedback buttons for classical so it doesn’t improve as quickly as other genres
As it happens, I too have a Pandora station that’s ideally “19th century impressionist solo/chamber music”. Really you don’t have many controls though. You can include a set of composers (“artists” really doesn’t fit well with classical music), so you should add Ravel and Satie and whoever else you want to the station. That’s also going to get you a big mix of vaguely related classical music, and stuff by the named composers that doesn’t fit what you want – maybe you don’t want anything orchestral or vocal. So just give that a big thumbs down, and give a thumbs up to the music you want, and eventually it’ll figure it out. But you’ll still get the odd Beethoven piano sonata mixed in with the impressionists you want.
Pandora is prevented from playing specific songs or even specific artists because of their agreements with music companies. They have to play “random” music based on traits. This is always going to be a limitation with Pandora.
I only have two tips:
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Watch out for the music traits of songs you thumb up. If a song by composer X is similar to one by composer Y, Pandora is going to think you want Y as well. In my playlists, I intentionally don’t thumb-up some songs because of this trend. (For example, my favorite play list is power metal. But some of the songs I like verge on more traditional, progressive or goth styles. If I thumb them up, then I’m over-run by things that are clearly not the genre that I want the station to be.)
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It takes a long time to properly train a station. I generally don’t get to a point where a station has what I want for about three months.
These are helpful answers. Thanks.
Where do I go to add composers to my stations?
ETA: Never mind. I found it.
I actually do like being introduced to new composers/artists who match my taste. I think I haven’t been using the thumbs up/thumbs down button enough.
Just buy a Debussy album. Pandora’s use case is more about discovering new music than listening to what you already know you like.
I have tons of Debussy albums. As I said, I do like being introduced to music that suits my taste. I don’t want Pandora to give me only Debussy. I want music that is Debussy-like, which is not Beethoven and Bach (although I love them, too, when I’m in the mood). I added some other “impressionistic” composers to my Debussy channel, and I’m using the thumbs buttons more.
Anyhoo, Pandora is more fun than just playing an album, *because *of the element of surprise.
Could I ask why?
If so;why?
I have been playing with Pandora recently and really like it. The ads seem infrequent and short. Nothing I’ve read about the paid service seems like all that.
I have the paid service. It is only $20 a year which isn’t enough for me to even think about. You get a standalone music player outside of your browser, no ads, and more skips per hour than a free user. I think it gives you more time before you have to move your mouse or something to prove you are still listening before it shuts off. I think it is worth it. Don’t listen to me though, I am a paid member here too.
Ditto this on both counts. Stuff costs money. I like to pay for things that I use, enjoy, and value. I also don’t mind paying taxes.
How do I access this?
Agree. I’ve paid/donated for freeware that I enjoy. I was just curious whatcha get.
The thing I like best is that it just keeps playing instead of stopping every so often and asking “Are you still listening, huh? huh? huh?” and making me stop what I’m doing and move my mouse.