Welcome, Rolling Stone readers and Pandora fans! In case you haven’t caught the Feb. 17 issue yet, RS ran an article on “Pandora’s Digital Kingdom”, all about the cutting-edge internet radio service that’s been making me happy for years now.

“Pandora is the first true music meritocracy,” says independent musician Matthew Ebel (an artist likely to pop up on a Ben Folds Five station). “The fact that there is no fat guy in a ponytail and suit in Chicago determining what 20 songs they are going to play is a huge thing.”
Rolling Stone

Now I know I should be super-excited about my name appearing in Rolling Stone- even if only in a brief line like that. And believe me, I am. I went out and picked up this issue before getting my morning coffee, if that gives you an idea of how jazzed up I am about it. In this day and age of new media (especially when a guy like me has championed podcasting, blogging, and the like for five years now), should I really be that thrilled over getting a tiny blurb in an old-school print mag? I don’t care, I’m pretty hamn dappy about it.

Truth be told, however, I was more excited to wake up and find a tweet from C.C. Chapman about finding the quote. Having my name printed once in four columns of text in an industry mag is one thing, but having someone with an alarmingly large retweet community mention it? That is far more relevant.

In any case, I encourage you to read the article. My involvement may be small, but the article really nails the direction I think music is heading. One of these days I’d like to meet Tim Westergren, founder of Pandora Radio, and shake his hand. If you want to read the full story, though, you’ll have to buy the issue or subscribe to Rolling Stone online, sadly- they don’t give this stuff away for free.

Update: I go into a bit more detail about Pandora itself here.

I’ve mentioned Pandora a few times as the future of internet radio, at least here in the states. If you’re still not clear as to why I’m in love with it, check this video out.

I was happy to announce that Goodbye Planet Earth was available on Pandora. Now I’m even happier to announce that Beer & Coffee is available as well!

Why is this awesome, you ask? Because so many people these days find new music via Pandora. It takes artists, songs, and albums you like and finds similar music to put into a customized radio station just for you.

Now anyone listening to Ben Folds or Keane or other well-known acts may very well end up listening to two of my albums. I’ve already made new fans this way, and I’m glad to see they’re adding more of my inventory.

If you haven’t built a station yet, go to Pandora.com and set one up… your ears will thank you!