The music service Pandora launched its first public version in 2005.
Pandora began as the Music Genome Project, an effort to describe songs using hundreds of musical characteristics and use those descriptions to generate personalized stations. The service initially operated as Pandora Internet Radio and offered recommendations based on a listener’s selected artist or song.
The company was founded by Tim Westergren, Will Glaser, and Jon Kraft. Pandora’s recommendation system became its central identity: rather than requiring users to choose every track, it automatically selected music intended to resemble the listener’s starting point.
Pandora’s early service was closely associated with the United States because of music-licensing restrictions. It later expanded its products and audience, including an on-demand subscription offering. The service is unrelated to the Pandora myth, although its name evokes the idea of opening a container filled with many possibilities.