Inside Spotify Radio vs. Pandora - The Echo Nest Makes the Difference

Every time a new “Pandora killer" launches, my first question is what technology is driving song selection.  The answer matters because that's who/what is deciding what we listen to. Pandora has its own “Music Genome Project" which is really just a bunch of humans grading music. The result is that some indie bands have been left off Pandora playlists. Doesn't quite seem fair, does it? The Echo Nest offers a data driven alternative and Spotify Radio, which rolls out today, is powered by it.

The Echo Nest uses “deep music knowledge" (5 billion data points on 30 million songs) to comb Spotify's 15 million track catalog and create personalized radio stations based around songs or artists. Given how often The Echo Nest's open database is used by app developers, this partnership should also net some interesting Spotify Apps as well.

“Playlists are the cornerstone of the Spotify user experience," states Jim Lucchese, CEO of The Echo Nest. “The Echo Nest has invested heavily to ensure our intelligent playlist engine is the most sophisticated in the world. Combining The Echo Nest's intelligent playlist engine with Spotify Radio's incredibly intuitive and inherently social service will certainly give Spotify users an amazing music discovery experience."

The Echo Nest investors include Matrix Partners, Commonwealth Capital Ventures, and three co-founders of MIT Media Lab.