The music-streaming company Pandora was founded in 2000.
Pandora began as Savage Beast Technologies, a company focused on applying the Music Genome Project to music recommendation. Its technology analyzed musical characteristics so the service could create personalized stations based on a listener’s selected artist or song.
The company later became Pandora Media and launched its internet radio service to the public in 2005. Unlike an on-demand catalog at launch, Pandora primarily selected tracks for listeners according to its recommendation system and licensing arrangements.
Pandora is unrelated to the woman in Greek mythology, although both use the same name. It is also distinct from Pandora, Saturn’s small moon, and from the fictional moon in the film Avatar. The company became especially influential in the development of personalized online radio in the United States.