In this time of endless iPods and Internet downloads, one music fan created a Web site that caters to the music connoisseur within us all.
Tim Westergren founded Pandora.com six years ago and the Web site now has access to thousands of songs, and all the tools needed to create your one-of-a-kind play list.
Westergren, a veteran musician, composer and avid music fan, wanted Pandora to introduce new musicians and songs to even the most jaded of musicologists.
"It's all about music discovery," Westergren said. "It's really such a valuable cultural experience for people."
Even if you consider yourself to be quite knowledgeable within a given music genre, Pandora is still likely to expose you to something you have not had the pleasure of hearing yet. For instance, countless acts that have yet to land a major record deal, or have not appeared on TRL, share the same space with more established acts.
"I really wanted to give independent musicians exposure to larger audiences," Westergren said.
This commitment to quality of songs, as opposed to quantity of record sales, has deemed Westergren the everyman of music downloading. He is a musician fighting for talent to reign supreme, as opposed to the same artists crowding the Billboard charts.
According to Westergren, only a few hundred musicians are able to truly make a living. He hopes Pandora will increase that number to more than 100,000.
"The entire music industry is built on hits," Westergren said. "I want people to find new stuff they love."
Considering Westergren's love of music, he recently began a cross-country tour hoping to find hidden talents and various people involved in the music industry. Some of his stops include: New Orleans, Biloxi and Houston.
Memphis was also on the agenda for Westergren and he enjoyed all the sights and sounds the city has to offer.
"I went to Stax, Shangrila Records and The Hi-Tone," he said. "I got a good sampling of Memphis."
Throughout this entire tour, Westergren has posted blogs on Pandora telling readers about the local music scene in each city. Since the local scene is thriving in Memphis, Westergren encourages all artists to submit their music to Pandora.
"It doesn't have to have fancy artwork or anything," Westergren said.
There are complete instructions available at www.pandora.com, on how to be heard on this growing and eye-opening Web site.
