The music-streaming company founded in Oakland in 2000 as Savage Beast Technologies is Pandora.
The company began as Savage Beast Technologies and developed the Music Genome Project, an effort to describe songs using many musical characteristics. That analysis supported Pandora’s personalized internet-radio model, in which listeners could start stations based on artists or songs and receive related tracks.
The service was launched publicly as Pandora Internet Radio in 2005. Unlike a traditional on-demand music library in its original form, Pandora emphasized algorithmically selected stations and user feedback such as thumbs-up and thumbs-down ratings.
Pandora’s name comes from the mythological figure, but the company is unrelated to the ancient story beyond branding. It is also distinct from Spotify, which became known primarily for on-demand music streaming. SiriusXM acquired Pandora in 2019, combining the internet-radio service with the satellite and streaming audio company.