I’m Pandora Music Analyst Hannah Glass, and This Is How I Work

Pandora’s Music Guide is the main reason the site continues to stand out from the competition from Spotify, Google, Apple, and YouTube. Professional music analysts listen to the tracks and identify common elements, creating the Music Genome project, which supports Pandora’s customizable stations. As Senior Music Analyst, Hannah Glass decides what to listen to next. We spoke to her about her work at Pandora, her musical background and her own performing projects.

Location: Oakland, California Current job: Senior music analyst Current computer: MacBook Air Current mobile device: iPhone 5C One word that best describes how you work: flexibility

First of all, tell us a little about your past and how you got where you are now.

I grew up in a musical family. My mom teaches piano and my dad is a bass player, so my brother and I grew up in different genres and went through classical training. Music followed me to the University of California, Berkeley, where I studied music and rhetoric. I spent most of my college experience performing, arranging and staging for a cappella, as well as volunteering for KALX, run by students from an FM radio station, and playing the baroque violin. After graduation, I worked at Rasputin’s music store on Telegraph Avenue, not far from campus.

All of this helped me get to my current role as a music analyst at Pandora. Growing up listening to many different styles of music as a child and also gaining hands-on experience as I grew up helped my ear tremendously.

Tell us about a recent work day.

Morning

What I do: Wake up, look at my phone, make coffee, water the plants, do crosswords. I usually work from home, so I cut my prep time and travel time.

What I hear: Alarm (Cloud by Sia), meme video, boiling water, birds chirping, dogs barking, maybe some early jazz.

Afternoon

What I’m doing: I’m doing analysis using the Pandora’s Music Genome Project interface. Music is perceived in the same way as any radio station, and then, after we analyze it, it can be played on any station with similar musical characteristics. I am not curating; I just enter data using harmonic analysis and other important listening skills. Each song, so to speak, has its own fingerprint, and I put it on the map.

What I Hear: Email notifications, then 15-25 tracks of new rap and hip-hop: usually male voices rap over electronic trap beats. From time to time I listen to traditional Celtic tracks to change the tempo. During breaks, I sit at the piano and read romantic or classical pieces.

Evening

What I do: I often have a rehearsal or a performance, so when I arrive late, I have time for work, prepare for the next day, and have dinner. I like to diversify my musical interests: on Monday it’s a cappella for 12 people. Tuesday – the stadium of the pop-rock band. Wednesday is a terrific rock trio. Thursday – Bluegrass String Orchestra. Saturday – string quartet. Sunday is an ensemble of Argentine milongas. Then I analyze the music a little more before bed.

What I hear: My Pandora app when I drive to rehearsal. Tuning, laughter, drum kits, effects pedals, amp feedback, constructive feedback, alto sections, metronomes, page flipping, curses and lots of “1, 2, 3, 4”, “Raise the violin”, “It’s in D” and “Where do we start? “Back home, a few hours of analysis. I chill out to LoFi hip hop. Then the candle burns. Finally, silence.

What apps, gadgets or tools can’t you live without?

Simple Wi-Fi is enough for work! Concerning concerts, I can’t live without Lyft. The metronome always helps (I use a free app on my phone).

How is your workplace arranged?

My workplace is practically nonexistent. I have a laptop, insulating comfortable foldable headphones and a portable numeric keypad. I’ve worked in a café in Paris and on a tourist bus on the highway, but I mostly work at the kitchen table. One of my favorite places to work is outside in the sun at my home in Auckland.

What are your listening habits? How has your work influenced them?

My listening habits change often, but from time to time I appreciate the silence to restore my ears. I certainly didn’t get sick with music after making my living analyzing. I have a really very professional relationship with rap as I spend most of my time listening to it at work, so I tend to listen to other genres when I’m relaxing. As a music academic, I have listened to songs analytically for many years, so I know how to turn music on and off.

What’s your best life hack?

Always keep snacks in your purse! As a musician, I often do not have enough time to travel from one place to another, especially during dinner. My purse is always full of snacks.

Tell us about an interesting process you have at work.

One of the more interesting parts of my job, as it can be repetitive, is attending monthly group meetings where Pandora analysts discuss the different genes of the Music Genome Project. In rap and hip-hop meetings, we talk about lyrics and musical inaccuracies that we need to recognize because that’s just part of our job. Most of the material is NSFW, which creates an inherently interesting workspace.

Another positive aspect is that every part of the “Genome of Music” project – even after 15 years of algorithm development – is open for discussion and revision. Every analyst of mine has a solid understanding of music. It’s amazing when all these rock stars and real music fans, during a Skype session, caught fire with the idea of ​​interpreting the harmonic, instrumental or lyrical elements of the song.

Who are the people who help you achieve results, and how do you rely on them?

My job is mostly simple – I listen to a new song every ten minutes. But my manager helps me improve the quality of my analysis and makes sure I don’t burn out. Any analysis duration longer than six hours can definitely turn the brain into mush.

How do you keep track of what you need to do?

Old school: CVS scheduler. Sometimes I even use gel pens.

How to recharge or relax?

Some analysts work in blocks, while others work in between talks. After several hours of analysis, I play the piano, lie down in the sun, or have a snack.

What’s your favorite side project?

In general, I love performing, and my musical instruments are my favorite side projects.

What are you reading now or what do you recommend?

At the moment I am reading a collection of stories by Ray Bradbury ” Day , It Rains Forever” . I would also recommend Jonathan Letham’s fiction. It’s fantastic.

Who else would you like to see to answer these questions?

Besides reading what my mom and dad would say, I would loveThomas Newman’s life hack. He is the composer of films that have written American Beauty , Finding Nemo , Wall E and Skyfall, to name just a few.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Don’t compare yourself to other people. This is not a race – trust your own process. This is very useful to remember as a composer. There are so many artists in the world, only some of them are big, but we all go our own way. Life is not a race.

What problem are you still trying to solve?

Time management and prioritization. Since elementary school, I have been interested in combining all my extracurricular activities, and now I try to find time to be who I want to be. I found that taking a step back, re-calibrating and figuring out what I need to do helps a lot.