Pandora Radio’s Nolan Gasser to talk Music Genomes at Folly on Saturday

Your boss would probably hate Dr. Nolan Gasser. As chief musical architect of the Music Genome Project, Gasser is directly responsible for countless hours of lost productivity and network lag-time at workplaces all over the world. That’s because the MGP is the driving force behind the music-streaming site Pandora.com. Heard of it?

Using the ultra-shmancy, music-analyzing techniques developed by the Music Genome Project (which began nearly ten years ago), Pandora Radio creates preference-based “radio stations” for users. If you’re a music fan who does any amount of online music searching or listening, you’ve probably encountered Pandora, which has been online since 2005. When you create a free account with the site, you’re able to type in the name of a favorite artist. Then, using complex vectors and algorithms and stuff, the Music Genome Project creates a streaming playlist of music by the artist and — this is the selling point — by other bands/artists that sound like the artist you entered.

Here’s what happens, for example, when you put in Leonard Cohen. (If you’re already among the 35 million people already using Pandora, feel free to skip ahead.)

1. Enter band/artist name.