3.10.2011

Pandora--has Pandora's Box been opened?

So, we stepped up and joined the "smartphone" generation and got Blackberry phones this past December.  By far, one of my favorite things about it has been having Pandora Radio, which is "internet radio."  It's cool because it's like having an iPod on shuffle but without the limitation of your own music library.  Cool, right?!  Yes, but...

I have quickly learned a thing or two about the music industry:

1. More artists than I realized actually produce "explicit" versions of their songs, and Pandora has chosen to play them--uncensored.  So picture me listening along to a song I've heard many times on the radio but then I'm suddenly shocked by an unedited f-bomb or the like.  Have you had this experience yet?  Fortunately, Pandora provides a skip key, so the user can skip to the next song.  But I'm of the mindset that it would be nice if the user could select "play clean versions only" as a permanent choice.

2. Today's most popular artists lead me to firmly believe that the world truly is going to Hell in a handbasket.  What prompted me to write this post was a song that came on titled, I kid you not, "I just had sex..."  I second guessed my ears at first as the artist sang that line, and then when I heard another reference that "she let me put my p----s in her," I was quite honestly dumbfounded.  Seriously?!?  "Artists" can make money on this crap?  In today's world, they obviously can.  An article I read yesterday spoke of how nobody knew the name "Kardashian" until one of the Kardashian sisters made and released a sex tape that "launched her career," and how this past year their "empire" made $65 million.  Sad day when "normal" people are working hard just to get by and this "other side" do awful things to obtain celebrity status and a financial fortune.

Should I be surprised by this?  If you remind yourself of the definition of Pandora's Box as I had to, I guess there should be little surprise.  Wiki says it well:  "Today, opening Pandora's box means to create evil that cannot be undone."  Scary.  I guess if I don't like Pandora I can always switch to another internet radio app---like Slacker Radio, right?

So, here's a question for you:   Do you think there's a market left out there for an internet radio app that connotes something POSITIVE and plays only clean versions of songs?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

1 comment:

Amy said...

I've had the same problem with Pandora. I wish there was a clean option.