Pandora Shares New York’s Favorite Genres By Neighborhood, from Beach Bar Lounge to i-Pop
Pandora released a subset of data summing up what each New York neighborhood listens to.
If there’s one thing music streaming services love doing, it’s studies on people’s habits. (To be fair, who doesn’t love trolling through and judging or coveting the songs in John’s Jumpin’ Jack iTunes Library or Giuliana’s Grooves on the wi-fi in your office/classroom/apartment building?) Picking up on Spotify’s lead, Pandora has compiled a list of all the online radio stations created in all five boroughs of New York City during the month of August.
Some of the genres are pretty straightforward, like ’80s hip-hop and contemporary gospel — others are a little less intuitive. “I-pop,” for example, is Indonesian pop; perhaps like Agnez Mo, who scored a crossover hit back in the spring with “Coke Bottle,” featuring Timbaland and T.I. Or Hotel Costes, a Parisian hotel known for its compilation dance music CDs.
Overall the data are fascinating and portrays each neighborhood in both expected and surprising ways; of course the Upper West Side listens mostly to classical music, “yoga,” and “toddler,” but you may not have anticipated (at least, this writer didn’t) that Jewish comedy, norteno 2014, and progressive house lived side-by-side in Borough Park. At least now when you listen to your neighbors’ pounding soundystem, you’ll know better whether it’s salsa puertorriquena or salsa de Nueva York, especially now that Pandora is booming with Hispanic users.