Pandora Launches Voice-Enabled Smart Assistant For Mobile App

Pandora has introduced a new Voice Mode native smart assistant that enables listeners to control Pandora’s mobile app and enjoy new music discovery using simple voice commands, providing a hands-free experience tailored to the unique tastes of each user. The company will roll out access to Voice Mode to select listeners on iOS and Android beginning today (Jan. 15), with general availability for all mobile users coming soon.

“Pandora is the leader in personalized audio entertainment, and millions of our listeners are already loving the experience we’ve created on smart speakers and other voice-enabled connected devices,” said Chris Phillips, Chief Product Officer, Pandora. “With Voice Mode, we are introducing an even more natural and conversational way for listeners to discover new music and enhance their experience directly in the Pandora mobile app, like getting recommendations from a friend who really knows you.”

By saying the wake phrase “Hey Pandora” followed by a request, users can effortlessly control and continually refine their listening experience by just speaking naturally. Voice Mode allows listeners to seamlessly enjoy the full range of the Pandora experience hands-free and uses advanced Natural Language Understanding technology to respond to a wide array of requests with the perfect music for each user’s personal tastes via Pandora’s pioneering music recommendation technology. 

Pandora’s uniquely predictive understanding of individual listener preferences is powered by its Music Genome Project – the richest dataset of music-listening information in the world. For Voice Mode, Pandora combines this deep user knowledge, an in-house curation team, and advanced natural language search and personalized machine learning search algorithms to provide the best and most personalized listening experience available.

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Lorie Hollabaugh

Hollabaugh, a staff writer at MusicRow magazine, has over 20 years of music business experience and has written for publications including American Profile, CMA Close Up, Nashville Arts And Entertainment, The Boot and Country Weekly. She has a Broadcast Journalism and Speech Communication degree from Texas Christian University, (go Horned Frogs), and welcomes your feedback or story ideas at lhollabaugh@musicrow.com.

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