Pandora and Real Industry Partner to Empower the Next Generation of Music Marketers and Drive Social Impact

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Pandora P, in partnership with Real Industry, today announced the launch of its Pandora Challenge: Music & Social Impact program at five universities across the United States. Participating students will use Pandora's Artist Marketing Platform (AMP) and data from Next Big Sound to harness the power of music and drive awareness for those battling cancer, students and musicians in underserved communities and LGBTQ equality.

"The Pandora Challenge is a unique opportunity for students to develop real-world artist marketing campaigns that support and drive awareness for important social causes," said Jay LeBoeuf, founder and executive director at Real Industry.

"The energy and love of music the students possess is an incredibly powerful combination," said Alex White, head of Next Big Sound at Pandora. "With help from our partners at Real Industry, we're not only harnessing that combination for a good cause but also giving students experience and knowledge they can use to jumpstart their careers in the music industry."

The program kicked off at University of Southern California on Oct. 4. Over 100 students participated in the challenge and developed campaigns to support the launch of BloodPop®'s Made of Music program. The program aims to connect underserved aspiring musicians and music professionals with mentors from within their local community. It will initially focus its efforts on the greater Los Angeles area, but aims to ultimately reach communities around the country.

"I'm excited about working with USC students and Real Industry to develop my program Made Of Music into solutions that help to empower at risk and underserved students in the L.A. area. This will give them new outlets for their creativity and encourage them to pursue careers in music," said BloodPop®.

"The USC experience was incredible. The opportunity to be back on a college campus, working with students in a group setting to solve important problems in the creative community is unmatched. There is a lack of access to resources and opportunities that inspire young people to pursue careers in the creative industry. We are excited to work with Real Industry and Pandora to build a program that provides mentorship in these areas," said Daouda Leonard, founder at Mastor Craft representing BloodPop®.

"The students received access to tools like AMP they've never used before, industry mentorship and hopefully complete the challenge feeling as though they've made a difference," said Priyanka Shekar, program director at Real Industry.

The next challenge kicks off at Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) on Oct. 9. Participating students will create campaigns for Manchester Orchestra who support the 1 Million 4 Anna foundation, which is dedicated to fighting Ewing sarcoma.

Members of Manchester Orchestra are excited to have MTSU students working on social impact through music marketing. "It's about so much more than vanity and ticket sales. It's about being a part of something that is bigger than you can even comprehend. Helping people without ever knowing you were helping them. When that happens, those people actually help you," said Manchester Orchestra lead singer Andy Hull.

"I am honored that Pandora and Real Industry chose MTSU students to participate in the program. It gives our students real-world experience and exposure to data and best practices that they might not otherwise receive," said Beverly Keel, chair of MTSU's Department of Recording Industry.

Additional events will take place at New York University (NYU) on Oct. 11 with Common, University of Massachusetts, Lowell on Oct. 21 with Jack Antonoff and at the University Innovation Fellows summit at Stanford University on Nov. 19. At NYU, students in its Steinhardt Music Business program will develop campaigns to encourage wellness, mental health, and mindfulness in communities of color, while the student campaigns at UMass Lowell will support The Ally Coalition.

"I am delighted to host the Pandora Challenge: Music and Social Impact at NYU Steinhardt," said Larry Miller, director of the music business program. "We teach our students how to meld their passion for music with their desires for social impact, so this challenge, and Common's participation, is a fantastic real-world opportunity for tomorrow's music business leaders."

"We're excited to collaborate with some of NYU's brightest minds to leverage the power of music and art to make a difference in the world and help others," said Michael Latt, social impact advisor for Common. "Together, we have the opportunity to support our brothers and sisters around the country through a campaign that Common and I are really passionate about."

Pandora has invested in helping artists connect with their fans at scale. The company introduced AMP in late 2014 and rolled out a full suite of self-serve marketing tools available to all artists on Pandora in 2016. In 2015, Pandora acquired Next Big Sound to help artists make insight-based decisions by aggregating data from across Pandora, social media, video platforms and other digital sources. To date, more than 12,000 artists are using AMP to make critical career decisions and more than 18,000 Artist Audio Messages have been heard by Pandora listeners over a billion times.

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ABOUT PANDORA

Pandora is the world's most powerful music discovery platform – a place where artists find their fans and listeners find music they love. We are driven by a single purpose: unleashing the infinite power of music by connecting artists and fans, whether through earbuds, car speakers, live on stage or anywhere fans want to experience it. Our team of highly trained musicologists analyze hundreds of attributes for each recording which powers our proprietary Music Genome Project®, delivering billions of hours of personalized music tailored to the tastes of each music listener, full of discovery, making artist/fan connections at unprecedented scale. Founded by musicians, Pandora empowers artists with valuable data and tools to help grow their careers and connect with their fans.

www.pandora.com | @pandoramusic | www.pandoraforbrands.com | @PandoraBrands | amp.pandora.com

ABOUT REAL INDUSTRY

Real Industry is a bridge between academia and industry for university students, university faculty and companies. We educate and empower university students to succeed in industry. As a nonprofit organization, we partner with companies to create workshops to help students develop real-world skills under the guidance of industry experts.

realindustry.org | @Real_Industry

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