Why does Pandora do this?

[Hawkee]

I listen to Pandora every morning and I have noticed that when you create a new station Pandora has a habit of mixing other artists songs and rarely puts the artist's songs that are supposed to play on the artist's station that you create and I wonder if this is a thing that Pandora likes to do to improve their app? Because for example if you have a station of George Strait you rarely hear George Strait songs and instead you hear Toby Keith songs and Clint Black songs and Randy Travis songs before George Strait songs are heard. Another example is if you want to listen to John Denver you have to cycle through Gordon Lightfoot and Jim Croce songs and Crosby Stills Nash And Young songs before a John Denver song actually plays on the John Denver station of Pandora. Another thing that drives me crazy about Pandora is that they have a skip limit and when you have reached your skip limit it tells you to wait until your skips are refilled and I think Pandora should let you have unlimited skips rather than offer them in Pandora Plus. Because I have noticed this when listening to the Jeremy Renner station on Pandora that only one Jeremy Renner song plays and then you cycle through Soundgarden songs and Pearl Jam songs before another Jeremy Renner song is played
Has anyone noticed this with Pandora?

[JO Sweet Heart]

^^^ I only recently discovered Pandora and I have the same complaint. The only person I want to hear over there right now is Ashley Clark and instead of him, I end up getting other singers. All that I want are these songs from Ashley.



God bless you and him always!!!

Holly

[rusty spike]

I'm trying to think of a logical rationale for their song selection. I haven't used Pandora in awhile, but your observations are spot on. You start with Def Leppard and you get two songs in a row (1st song very popular, 2nd lesser known) and then it shifts. It moves to AC-DC, maybe Van Halen, then Metallica, Aerosmith and then it sometimes goes to a Spanish rock song. WTH?

I'm thinking they don't have a giant music library or maybe you only get 2 songs of the artist/band you want to hear. Oh, there used to be a like or dislike button. The more I disliked a song, the more it would come up in rotation. I think it was intentional.

[Hawkee]

I think what could improve Pandora is letting listeners have unlimited skips as I mentioned in my opening post and actually PLAY that artist's songs on the artist's station that you create. Because when you listen to an artist like Jamie Foxx you cycle through R. Kelly songs and Beyonce songs and finally one Jamie Foxx song shows up and that is all. Pandora also does this habit with classic country artists stations because no matter if you create a Conway Twitty station or a Hank Williams station you cycle through a dozen Patsy Cline songs til you listen to Hank Williams and the most oddest thing is that they always put songs that don't match the genre like Sam Cooke and Al Green and it seems that the two most popular songs by Sam Cooke and Al Green that Pandora plays all the time are Cupid and Let's Stay Together and the same thing with Bobby Vinton's station as well with Mr. Lonely. The final thing that drives me nuts about Pandora is they place radio commercials before the songs play and Pandora should offer a commercial free version but it seems that they promote Pandora Plus a lot now

[DadTheKing]

Hi, Hawkee! I agree Pandora is exasperating in their music selection. I have a Patsy Cline station and it gives me more George Straight than Patsy! They also play the same songs on multiple stations. I tried to make a Jorge Salinas station to hear his singing and all I get is CUBAN JAZZ INSTRUMENTALS????? Have you tried to contact Pandora about this? I will not pay for it if all I get is free skips but the same old songs.
DTK

[Hawkee]

Another thing about Pandora that also is very annoying and is a huge habit is no matter what artist's station you pick is that they double play the same song on every station. I witnessed this when my mom and I were trying to listen to John Denver's station on Pandora and they double played Billy Joel songs and when we switched to the Tom Jones station and all we heard was Al Green with Let's Stay Together and I think this habit Pandora should quit doing and concentrate on the artist's music that is meant to play on that station. But two stations that Pandora actually plays their songs are the Elvis Presley station and the Engelbert Humperdinck station and you actually hear Engelbert Humperdinck and Elvis on those stations but can you imagine wanting to listen to the Michael Jackson station on Pandora or the Chicago station to hear Chicago songs but get Janet Jackson songs rather than Michael Jackson songs or Billy Joel songs when you really want to hear Chicago's music?

[Hawkee]

I have figured what causes Pandora to double play other artists songs and my mom and I found out that you don't put a thumbs up symbol on a song you have a better chance of hearing the artist's songs on the artist's station you create. Another thing I discovered about Pandora is no matter if you create a new artist's station the double songs repeat again and again on that station. Take for example my mom and I were listening to the Tom Jones station on Pandora and we were trying to hear Tom Jones songs and we had to listen to Billy Joel and we cycled through Lou Rawls songs and John Denver songs before one Tom Jones song finally played. And when we switched to Barry Manilow's station we had to cycle through a bunch of The Carpenters songs till Barry Manilow finally played. And the same thing with Jimmy Buffett's station too and another thing that Pandora does is they repeat the same song over and over and every time they have Tony Orlando And Dawn songs play it seems that the only Tony Orlando And Dawn song that Pandora repeats either on the John Denver station or the Engelbert Humperdinck station is always Candida and I can't figure it out? But the artists that get played a lot on their stations is Jeremy Renner and when you go to the Jeremy Renner station you get a ton of Jeremy Renner songs and the same thing with the Hank Williams station but if you want to create a Jackie Wilson station on Pandora you rarely hear Jackie Wilson songs and you end up cycling through Aretha Franklin songs and Otis Redding songs till Jackie Wilson plays. Pandora badly needs improvement to fix this habit which they need to stop doing

[Hawkee]

I did notice that Pandora has a big selection of Broadway cast albums and when you create a station based on a Broadway play such as Cats or Phantom Of The Opera they actually play music from Phantom Of The Opera or Cats. I noticed this when my mom and I created a station based on Oklahoma we actually got some songs from Oklahoma and I wondered why Pandora doesn't do this with all the other stations. Because my mom and I created a The Beatles station to see what songs they had of The Beatles and we got about twenty Beatles songs then it switched to Billy Joel and then we got Paul McCartney and then finally two Beatles songs showed up and then that was all. But if you have a Disney station you actually hear Disney songs. But why Pandora has a Billy Joel obsession is beyond me?

[Dude111]

Originally Posted by rusty spike

I'm trying to think of a logical rationale for their song selection. I haven't used Pandora in awhile, but your observations are spot on.

Stupidness and bad quality now is what I can think of.........

[Hawkee]

Another thing I noticed about Pandora is no matter if you create a station of a certain artist you hear the same song over and over again and there is lots of that artist's other songs that are popular that should be played on that station on Pandora. Take for example my mom and I have a Bobby Goldsboro station and we have been dying to hear See The Funny Little Clown on that station but the only Bobby Goldsboro songs we get are Honey and Watching Scotty Grow but never any other Bobby Goldsboro songs and this is really annoying to me. A second thing I noticed is if you have a Ricky Van Shelton station or Randy Travis station on Pandora they always play Clint Black and the only Clint Black song that seems to get played a lot of times is A Better Man and that song is annoying to me. I mean there's other Clint Black songs like Nothing's News and Nobody's Home and State Of Mind besides A Better Man. And if you go to any artist's station of the 70's Billy Joel pops up with Piano Man and I don't get why Piano Man seems to be the only Billy Joel song in the Pandora universe and if they are not playing Piano Man they play Only The Good Die Young and why Billy Joel gets played on Pandora a lot with just those two songs is shocking to me. But if you have a station of The Partridge Family on Pandora they do play different The Partridge Family songs but if you have Barry Manilow or Frank Sinatra stations the only songs you hear are Weekend In New England and Mandy and on the Frank Sinatra station you hear Dean Martin songs and rarely Frank Sinatra songs. I cannot figure out how Pandora survives and they should offer a free version with no commercials and give people unlimited skips if they want to survive and be more improved

[Hawkee]

I've also noticed another habit with Pandora that I wish they didn't do. If you put the name of a song such as Some Guys Have All The Luck by Rod Stewart they NEVER play the song listed and rarely do. Like today I created a station of Some Guys Have All The Luck to hear that song and I had to cycle through Foreigner and Journey songs till one Rod Stewart song played and it was Forever Young and NOT Some Guys Have All The Luck. But when I did The Way We Were as a station The Way We Were actually played. Another thing with Pandora is if you create a Disney movie soundtrack station you never hear the Disney movie soundtrack listed. For example I have the Hercules Soundtrack station and I rarely hear I Won't Say I'm In Love by Susan Egan but two other Hercules songs play but the other Disney movie soundtracks they play is either Moana or The Little Mermaid but if you have a Marvel show station you actually hear Marvel music and for Star Trek they actually play Star Trek music on that station. I don't know why Pandora does this but they should improve themselves and give listeners unlimited skips as I mentioned

[ABlairican Pie]

I used to listen to Pandora all the time, and I understand their desire to put related artists in their music roster. I have an Iron Maiden station, and their list would include 80's rock and metal artists, quintets, British bands, prog-rock/metal, etc. I had no problem with it, I liked the variety, to a point. They didn't vary all that much and it got predictable, so I stopped listening. Then when I tried to change the station to another artist, then it acts like it has a problem doing so.

Plus their ads are completely distracting.

I'd listen to Iron Maiden, then there would be something like Judas Priest, then AC/DC, then Ozzy, Metalliica, even Queensryche, Dio, Rush, then oddly, ZZ Top?

[Chocolate Moose]

Same. I think it's cheaper for them.

[Steve M.]

What's Pandora?

[ABlairican Pie]

Originally Posted by Steve M.

What's Pandora?

Pandora is an online music app. You choose which artist you want to listen to, and they will provide songs for you to listen to, in addition to similar artists.