Bendable Media

Tim Westergren of Pandora as pictured by the New York Times.

I was very pleased this morning when I opened the New York Times to see a story about Pandora — the Web radio service, not the fictional planet — on the front page of the Business section. Better, it was a story about Pandora turning a major corner in its development, not a plea for survival as many media mentions had become over the years.

Tim Westergren, Pandora’s founder, is one of the good guys in the Internet music business, someone you root for because he had a great idea — creating the music genome project — and the vision to push for his company’s success. I’ve interviewed Westergren a few times and I’ve always enjoyed the exchange. Also, it’s no secret I’m a fan of Pandora.

I’ve written about Pandora many times, most recently as it has become an essential part of the marketing campaigns at Samsung, LG, Vizio and other TV and Blu-ray makers who are adding a Pandora “channel” to their Web-connected products. You’ll also find Pandora on the iPhone (one of the first apps, by the way), the charming Chumby, the Livio radio player and on a host of other gadgets.

In the NYT’s piece, the lead opens with Westergren being wined and dined in Las Vegas by potential investors who may or may not want to take the company public. It’s a fitting scene, as Westergren and his team have hustled to build a great product. (To be fair, my current favorite Web radio service is Last.fm. And I do love Slacker, too.)

The Pandora story is about persistence over product, however, and that makes it worth reading in these times.

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