Heavenly Sword is a game for the Playstation 3. The promotion for the game offers up three stations.
First up is Speed Rock* (click to play) which is a generic metal station as you can get being based on Metallica, Motorhead, Slayer and Zeke. As is endemic for these stations, there has been no development whatsoever. If you like metal you cuold create a better station in fifteen minutes.
The second offering from this video game is yet another Indie Rock station, Range Indie* (click to play). The four seeds are Ghostland Observatory, Nada Surf, Okkervil River and The Thermals. In my brief listening to this station I'd say I like the station a bit better that the NikeiD version of the same genre. But again since there is no development, there's nothing here that you couldn't incorporate into your own stations in a minute or two.
Lastly, we have the inevitable urban market Power Hip-Hop (click to play). Excuse me as I roll my eyes, but there are only three artist seeds here (50 Cent, Kanye West and The Notorious B.I.G.) each of which have been featured on most other promotional Hip-Hop stations. Was there any point to creating this station? Of course, as expected, no time was spent developing this poor excuse for a station.
Monday, October 22, 2007
Station Review: NIKEiD tromps the SUPER-eGO with two stations
And what could be more id-like than a Hip-Hop station and a Rock station? I have no idea what product is being promoted here, but I assume it's something from Nike.
The Hip-Hop station is NIKEiD Hip-Hop Radio* (click to play). I can't be much of judge of this genre since I never listen to it. I've heard of Kanye West and Rihanna, and I've not heard of the three other seeds Buju Banton, Common and Talib Kweli. Since Pandora is about introducing you to new artists, the fact that I haven't heard of these artists is probably a good thing. In any case, no development time was spent on this station, and so it's still disappointing from that standpoint.
The seeds of NIKEiD Rock Radio* (click to play) are also comparatively obscure (Bloc Party, Interpol, Justice and The Killers plus a redundant song by The Killers), and that's nice as well. It seems to be a refreshing mix of recent Indie Rock. But once again there are no thumbs up or down to guide this station into being a bit more listenable.
The Hip-Hop station is NIKEiD Hip-Hop Radio* (click to play). I can't be much of judge of this genre since I never listen to it. I've heard of Kanye West and Rihanna, and I've not heard of the three other seeds Buju Banton, Common and Talib Kweli. Since Pandora is about introducing you to new artists, the fact that I haven't heard of these artists is probably a good thing. In any case, no development time was spent on this station, and so it's still disappointing from that standpoint.
The seeds of NIKEiD Rock Radio* (click to play) are also comparatively obscure (Bloc Party, Interpol, Justice and The Killers plus a redundant song by The Killers), and that's nice as well. It seems to be a refreshing mix of recent Indie Rock. But once again there are no thumbs up or down to guide this station into being a bit more listenable.
Station Review: Four for the Journeyman TV Show
This set is a promotion for a US TV series featuring time traveling, and so the stations are built to reflect different eras.
The late Eighties are the focus of Journeyman Hits 1987-1992* (click to play). The approach was to use five artists of the era and five songs other songs of the era as seeds. It was not a great era to start off with, and the station as usual has very little development: two thumbs up and four thumbs down. (Beyonce gets dissed twice here, hilariously. As far as I can tell, this makes her the only artist to have ever been banned from a promotional station. I'm sure it was inadvertent.)
The next station attempts to encapsulate the next five years in Journeyman Hits 1993-1999* (click to play). Did anyone really need a Spice Girls station? In any case, the Girls join four other artists and two songs as the seeds for this station. The development consists of two thumbs up and two thumbs down. Bland pop at it's most vanilla.
Moving up to the present we get to Journeyman Hits 2000-2007* (click to play). The seeds are six artist and six seeds. Again, it's the tops of the pops like many other promotional stations. Yawn. It was granted a single thumb up for development. You'd be better off building a station off the Billboard lists.
A new low is finally achieved with the last station, Journeyman Hits Time Travel* (click to play). If you really wanted to hear a station based on Tupac, Bon Jovi, Green Day, Madonna, Pink, TLC and U2 you can listen to this station, or, you know, create your own maybe adding some artists you actually like instead. No development time was wasted on this station at all.
The late Eighties are the focus of Journeyman Hits 1987-1992* (click to play). The approach was to use five artists of the era and five songs other songs of the era as seeds. It was not a great era to start off with, and the station as usual has very little development: two thumbs up and four thumbs down. (Beyonce gets dissed twice here, hilariously. As far as I can tell, this makes her the only artist to have ever been banned from a promotional station. I'm sure it was inadvertent.)
The next station attempts to encapsulate the next five years in Journeyman Hits 1993-1999* (click to play). Did anyone really need a Spice Girls station? In any case, the Girls join four other artists and two songs as the seeds for this station. The development consists of two thumbs up and two thumbs down. Bland pop at it's most vanilla.
Moving up to the present we get to Journeyman Hits 2000-2007* (click to play). The seeds are six artist and six seeds. Again, it's the tops of the pops like many other promotional stations. Yawn. It was granted a single thumb up for development. You'd be better off building a station off the Billboard lists.
A new low is finally achieved with the last station, Journeyman Hits Time Travel* (click to play). If you really wanted to hear a station based on Tupac, Bon Jovi, Green Day, Madonna, Pink, TLC and U2 you can listen to this station, or, you know, create your own maybe adding some artists you actually like instead. No development time was wasted on this station at all.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Station Building 101: Moving Ups To Seeds
Nearly a year ago I heard Tim Westergren speak in Berkeley. He mentioned that the list of thumbed-up songs were averaged to form a single seed which could then generate sets. I'm not sure I believed him, and I did not include that fact in my write up of the event. However, a recent update to the Pandora FAQ confirms that this is what the player is doing.
Given that information the question becomes whether we improve the focus of a station by making the best thumbed up songs into song seeds for a station. The idea is that by having many more similar seeds generating song sets, the station should become more consistent.
I examined my list of stations and picked a candidate for improvement. I Sing The Body Electric has always had a bit of an identity crisis. I wanted a station that played world-influenced electronica, but the only two bands I really liked (and of which I was aware) that were doing so were Engma and Afrocelt Soundsystem. And so to have enough bands to get the station going I added Polyphonic Spree and Jon and Vangelis both of which were looking for a home in my stations but neither of which met the ideal I had in mind for the station. It was time for major surgery.
I sorted the list of thumbed-up songs by artist, pressed the "show all" button, and printed out the list. I listened to the sample of each song in the list except for those of the four artist seeds and decided for each song whether to make it a seed, leave it alone or remove it from the list. Starting with the 183 tracks I had thumbed-up to date I made 45 songs into seeds and removed 95 of the tracks since they were more associated with the artists I was eliminating.
As I listen to the resulting station it seems that this a useful procedure; however, the station will need to go through a period of listening in which many new songs being drawn in by the influx of seeds will need to be thumbed down. And, of course, any new songs which are particularly appropriate will need to made into seeds as well as being thumbed up on an on-going basis. It is unclear at this point whether this process of constantly bringing in new seeds will result in a stable, consistent station, but I'm cautiously optimistic at this point.
A final point to consider is whether, in the long run, a station should use any artist seeds at all. My feeling is that as long as it is likely that new tracks by the artist will be made available to play on Pandora, then having artist seeds in a station is good because it will draw those tracks in as they become available. If an artist is no longer producing albums and Pandora has pretty much covered all the artist's albums then you might wish to include only the appropriate tracks by that artist in your stations.
Given that information the question becomes whether we improve the focus of a station by making the best thumbed up songs into song seeds for a station. The idea is that by having many more similar seeds generating song sets, the station should become more consistent.
I examined my list of stations and picked a candidate for improvement. I Sing The Body Electric has always had a bit of an identity crisis. I wanted a station that played world-influenced electronica, but the only two bands I really liked (and of which I was aware) that were doing so were Engma and Afrocelt Soundsystem. And so to have enough bands to get the station going I added Polyphonic Spree and Jon and Vangelis both of which were looking for a home in my stations but neither of which met the ideal I had in mind for the station. It was time for major surgery.
I sorted the list of thumbed-up songs by artist, pressed the "show all" button, and printed out the list. I listened to the sample of each song in the list except for those of the four artist seeds and decided for each song whether to make it a seed, leave it alone or remove it from the list. Starting with the 183 tracks I had thumbed-up to date I made 45 songs into seeds and removed 95 of the tracks since they were more associated with the artists I was eliminating.
As I listen to the resulting station it seems that this a useful procedure; however, the station will need to go through a period of listening in which many new songs being drawn in by the influx of seeds will need to be thumbed down. And, of course, any new songs which are particularly appropriate will need to made into seeds as well as being thumbed up on an on-going basis. It is unclear at this point whether this process of constantly bringing in new seeds will result in a stable, consistent station, but I'm cautiously optimistic at this point.
A final point to consider is whether, in the long run, a station should use any artist seeds at all. My feeling is that as long as it is likely that new tracks by the artist will be made available to play on Pandora, then having artist seeds in a station is good because it will draw those tracks in as they become available. If an artist is no longer producing albums and Pandora has pretty much covered all the artist's albums then you might wish to include only the appropriate tracks by that artist in your stations.
Friday, October 12, 2007
Station Review: Four More For Visa Signature
Another advertiser to re-up for the Pandora promotional station advertising program is Visa Signature. Last December they introduced four of the better promotional stations, and now they're back with four more.
First up is Brit Rock Radio* (click to play). This station is based on Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Cure, The Fratellis, The Rolling Stones, The Who and a tune by Oasis. It's sort of a Boomer nostolgia station. Zzzzzzz... At least the station has some development with two thumbs up and five thumbs down. Kudos, at least, to Visa for being unafraid of offending The Ducky Boys.
Next, let's take a look at World Traveler Radio* (click to play). Could it be? A promotional station I actually like? Something must be wrong. In any case, this station is based on five bands, only one of which has any fame at all in the US: Ladysmith Black Mambazo. There are two song seeds as well. Lot's of drums and call-and-response vocals. The station is slightly developed with 2 thumbs up and 2 thumbs down.
The third station is Blarney Stone Radio (click to play). It's not a bad attempt to create a Celtic station. I would note, however, that my Tir Na Nog station (click to play) covers all the same artists plus many more, and is far more developed. Their station is based on three artists, two songs, one thumb up and one thumb down. Since it has no real development it pulls in a lot of folk and bluegrass which is not remotely Celtic.
Lastly, we take a look at Tokyo Pop Karaoke Radio* (click to play). Again, Visa Signature should be applauded for the mere idea of using a J-Pop station in their campaign. It has five artists, and one thumb down, and so no one stayed up hights perfecting this station. Nevertheless, Puffy is a good place to start any station.
Overall, I'd say that this set of stations is one of the best promotions to date. Much is still lacking in the development of these staions, but at least they are examining genres beyond "what the kids are listening to now".
First up is Brit Rock Radio* (click to play). This station is based on Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Cure, The Fratellis, The Rolling Stones, The Who and a tune by Oasis. It's sort of a Boomer nostolgia station. Zzzzzzz... At least the station has some development with two thumbs up and five thumbs down. Kudos, at least, to Visa for being unafraid of offending The Ducky Boys.
Next, let's take a look at World Traveler Radio* (click to play). Could it be? A promotional station I actually like? Something must be wrong. In any case, this station is based on five bands, only one of which has any fame at all in the US: Ladysmith Black Mambazo. There are two song seeds as well. Lot's of drums and call-and-response vocals. The station is slightly developed with 2 thumbs up and 2 thumbs down.
The third station is Blarney Stone Radio (click to play). It's not a bad attempt to create a Celtic station. I would note, however, that my Tir Na Nog station (click to play) covers all the same artists plus many more, and is far more developed. Their station is based on three artists, two songs, one thumb up and one thumb down. Since it has no real development it pulls in a lot of folk and bluegrass which is not remotely Celtic.
Lastly, we take a look at Tokyo Pop Karaoke Radio* (click to play). Again, Visa Signature should be applauded for the mere idea of using a J-Pop station in their campaign. It has five artists, and one thumb down, and so no one stayed up hights perfecting this station. Nevertheless, Puffy is a good place to start any station.
Overall, I'd say that this set of stations is one of the best promotions to date. Much is still lacking in the development of these staions, but at least they are examining genres beyond "what the kids are listening to now".
Station Building 101: Spring Cleaning
In a previous Station Building post I mentioned that I probably should try to insure that no track is a seed or thumbed up on more than one station. I have several stations that are relatively close to one another, and so the idea is reduce the cases of tracks bringing the same songs to multiple stations.
And so I opened each station page and copied the lists of song seeds and thumbed up tracks into one long column of a spreadsheet. I added a column indicating which station the song came from and whether it was an up or a seed. At that point (Aug. 28) I had a list of 3,481 tracks which I then sorted alphabetically.
I then worked my way down the list looking for duplicates. When I found a set, I made decision on which I'd like to keep and copied the other rows in the set to another page. In the end, I found 75 duplicate tracks to eliminate. Sorting this latter list based on the station allowed me to quickly remove the duplicates.
The only downside to doing this task is the fact that afterward you will almost inevitably give a thumb up to tracks that you've cleaned out (particularly if you are listening to mobile Pandora where you cannot see the station). Nevertheless, this technique does help firm up what belongs in each of your stations.
The resulting list of all your seeds and thumbed up tracks is interesting in its own right. Currently, in that strange intersection of what I like and what Pandora has, Loreena McKinnet leads all others at 29 tracks edging out Kraftwerk at 28. Sadly, my two favorite artists, Vangelis and the Swedish/Finnish band Hedningarna (released in the US as The Heathens), are horribly underrepresented at 3 and 0 tracks respectively. (The Jon Anderson and Vangelis collaborations do score another 7 tracks for Vangelis, however.)
And so I opened each station page and copied the lists of song seeds and thumbed up tracks into one long column of a spreadsheet. I added a column indicating which station the song came from and whether it was an up or a seed. At that point (Aug. 28) I had a list of 3,481 tracks which I then sorted alphabetically.
I then worked my way down the list looking for duplicates. When I found a set, I made decision on which I'd like to keep and copied the other rows in the set to another page. In the end, I found 75 duplicate tracks to eliminate. Sorting this latter list based on the station allowed me to quickly remove the duplicates.
The only downside to doing this task is the fact that afterward you will almost inevitably give a thumb up to tracks that you've cleaned out (particularly if you are listening to mobile Pandora where you cannot see the station). Nevertheless, this technique does help firm up what belongs in each of your stations.
The resulting list of all your seeds and thumbed up tracks is interesting in its own right. Currently, in that strange intersection of what I like and what Pandora has, Loreena McKinnet leads all others at 29 tracks edging out Kraftwerk at 28. Sadly, my two favorite artists, Vangelis and the Swedish/Finnish band Hedningarna (released in the US as The Heathens), are horribly underrepresented at 3 and 0 tracks respectively. (The Jon Anderson and Vangelis collaborations do score another 7 tracks for Vangelis, however.)
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Station Story: Pretty Pop Princesses
This station is probably the closest I'll ever get to having a true, current pop station. I do not listen to currently charting artists. When I was in my teens I definitely turned my nose up at anything popular. I was one of those music snobs who loved a band if I got to know them before they became popular, and scoffed at any band that only became popular because of the marketing machinery of a major label.
Jagged Little Pill is the only album I've ever bought when it was at number 1, as far as I know. I came across Shakira by catching a video of hers on a Spanish language channel years before her first album in English. I mush say that I was turned onto Lavigne by happening on the "Complicated" video on MTV, and, thus, caught her in a rather mundane fashion. I like the fact all three artists participate fully in the writing of their songs (the lyrics, if nothing else).
The additional song seeds for this station come from the period in Pandora history when Quickmix was first implemented. There was a time when you could move tracks while listening to an individual station, but not when you were listening to Quickmix. Thus, I heard these songs on other stations and moved them manually by adding them as seeds to the station.
I try to keep the male lead vocals out of this station. Even by thumbing down every male lead vocal, about ten percent of the tracks do have a male vocalist. Still, I'm pretty satisfied by this station.
Jagged Little Pill is the only album I've ever bought when it was at number 1, as far as I know. I came across Shakira by catching a video of hers on a Spanish language channel years before her first album in English. I mush say that I was turned onto Lavigne by happening on the "Complicated" video on MTV, and, thus, caught her in a rather mundane fashion. I like the fact all three artists participate fully in the writing of their songs (the lyrics, if nothing else).
The additional song seeds for this station come from the period in Pandora history when Quickmix was first implemented. There was a time when you could move tracks while listening to an individual station, but not when you were listening to Quickmix. Thus, I heard these songs on other stations and moved them manually by adding them as seeds to the station.
I try to keep the male lead vocals out of this station. Even by thumbing down every male lead vocal, about ten percent of the tracks do have a male vocalist. Still, I'm pretty satisfied by this station.
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