From Pandora’s ‘Diversity’ Report, released this morning.
The racial breakdown of Oakland, CA, where Pandora is based (2010 US Census).
“Pandora is based in Oakland, the ‘rainbow’ city of the West Coast, with a mixed African American, Latino, Asian and white population, and a proud music and digital arts tradition. Significantly, Pandora chose to base its headquarters here, and build a company that reflects this community. As your workforce is 75% non-tech, there should be a strong pathway and few impediments to identifying and employing qualified Black and Latino from the local community and around the country so Pandora can reflect its user and consumer base.”
Jesse Jackson, in a statement issued this week.
+The Music Industry: It’s Still a White Boys’ Club…
And they don’t pay artists.
How many black writers do you have, btw?
I don’t get the United States and all that racist affirmative action nonsens. People wouldn’t accept that for a second where I live. Any company should focus on hiring whoever is best for the job, nothing more and nothing less. If you don’t get hired, then you should really try to improve yourself, What you shouldnt do is to whine, demand special treatment and throw your urine and faces around the streets of Ferguson. It doesn’t give anyone a good impression.
And exactly where do you live?
Not that I disagree with you, just wondering if there is a place left on earth that has not been trashed by political correctness.
“What you shouldnt do is to whine, demand special treatment and throw your urine and faces around the streets of Ferguson”
Yeah, them dumb negroes. 🙁 They have so much to learn from clever pirates such as yourself.
Wasn’t aware they were throwing their “faces around the streets of Ferguson”, though. How do they do that?
yeah, where do you live… somewhere without systematic oppression of black people i take it
You are part of the problem–always blaming others. It’s the American way!
Congrats. And, go forth, young comrade–a new communist world awaits you. That worked out so well before, am glad you have the brains to advocate its return.
Isn’t the real question why is Pandora so disliked and not just by Paul Resnikoff.
Quote “What you shouldnt do is to whine, demand special treatment and throw your urine and faces around the streets of Ferguson”
I’m gonna assume the “faces” was a mistype..
either way..
a thief and a racist.. Your mom must be proud..
what’s coming next?
“pandora doesn’t hire many gay people”???
Well, I’m not sure of Pandora’s hiring as it relates to gay people. But the company has donated a lot of money to a very anti-gay Congressman (anything to lower royalties to artists…)
whats your fucking problem with anti-gay people or companies that don’t hire much blackos?
is this a left wing site now? pro gay and pro black people? or is this still “digital music news”?
whats your problem with people that dont like gays? are you gay?
And to think, I once dreamt of starting spirited music industry discussions.
“I once dreamt of starting spirited music industry discussions”
I don’t think that’s true. I think you wanted to be rock star. You like to stir up trouble — and I can relate to that — but don’t whine when you get what you want. 🙂
In all seriousness, it might help to use a modern commenting platform… Anonymity plus no voting system…what do you expect?!
“In all seriousness, it might help to use a modern commenting platform”
Because that works so well for YouTube and Twitter.
…also, New York Times has an excellent article on the subject today. I won’t link since it takes forever to show up but the title is “Dealing With Digital Cruelty”.
It has many fine points that add up to this:
““Nobody makes you feel anything,” said Professor Suler, adding that you are responsible for how you interpret and react to negative comments.”
In other words, instead of leaving Twitter in protest like Robin Williams’ daughter, or asking Amazon to ban anonymous and insulting reviews, you should decide whether the poster in question is a teacher, or a troll who enjoys to elicit pain — and act accordingly. It’s not that hard to distinguish between the two (user names like “Adolf” or “PiratesWinLOL” will give you a hint).
Actually, this has actually turned into a debate worth re-joining. Let me start by saying that DMN has been in litigation — for years — because of anonymous comments that appeared on Digital Music News in 2011. So obviously we believe it is an effective approach for attracting debate and information.
The litigant was Grooveshark, represented by Rosenberg & Giger, who lost decisively in the California Court of Appeal a few months ago. Public Citizen attorney Paul Alan Levy adopted the case, and dismantled Rosenberg & Giger’s arguments to pursue subpoena discovery against ‘John Doe’ commenter(s). Ultimately, a panel of appeals judges determined that Grooveshark’s case was rather flimsy and frivolous, not to mention potentially a trespass on user privacy.
And the reason I defended myself — for years? I favor a free flow of information in comments, even if that means that assholes like ‘adolf’ troll around and say dumb things. I’d say that at least half — and perhaps a majority — of the time, well-informed people who have something to say come the DMN to say it. And they do so anonymously because they don’t want to get fired — but they want the information and opinions out there.
After the Grooveshark case, I took steps to make my commenting system even more anonymous. We really don’t track anything related to the commenter now, partly to avoid harassing litigation and witch-hunts by companies. And the reason? Sometimes you have to allow a lot of rough to get the diamonds — and the diamonds usually don’t arrive after a full verification and vetting process (not to mention an empty comments section).
Leave that white glove preciousness to publications like the New York Times. We’ll take a dirty town hall debate any day — and serve the liquor to lubricate the discussion!
The result? DMN has the most vital and populated comment and discussion platform in the music industry — hands down. And a lot of people come to DMN more for the comments and discussion than anything (yes, that’s anecdotal but I believe it’s true for many readers). Meanwhile, Billboard doesn’t even have comments enabled, for reasons I can’t even understand, and Hypebot, MusicWeek, Music Ally, etc. do not attract much discussion around their articles.
Overall, those publications are not as valuable to the industry as DMN — but hey, they get to stick their noses in the air and claim they run cleaner, more polished and ‘quality’ journalistic sites. Bullshit. More people read DMN for a reason, and it’s because we aren’t afraid of staring controversy, taking on powerful people and entrenched ideas, and hosting a comments section that allows almost any idea and attack (including many against us) to take place.
And hey, even a compliment on occasion.
Written while listening to Daniel Glass.
“And hey, even a compliment on occasion”
…though it may seem back-handed from time to time.
Anyway, your approach is appreciated. And the funny thing is that more restrictive sites often appears to invite more racism, sexism, etc. Perhaps the DMN way inspires at least a moderate amount of decency among commenters along the lines of “it takes an honest man to live outside the law”, or however it goes…
Maybe they don’t apply to work at Pandora? Believe it or not, there are valid reasons for companies to have a different ethnic breakdown than the cities they operate in.
Looks to me like Pandora hasn’t hired much of any other race. Not just “black people.” Trying to stir up a new Most Heated article are we Paul Resnikoff. I respect and support D.M.N., but bad show Paulie Boy. In the words of a tiny band from Los Angeles, California “Don’t call me white, don’t call me white!”
Good ol’ reliable DMN.
Everyone else is running a story about Pandora’s exceptional 50/50 male/female split, & mentioning the racial split further down. DMN ignores the sex split, only covers the racial diversity, & quotes Jesse Jackson. lmao.
Actually, yes Pandora has a 50/50 male/female split. Problem is there isn’t much diversity beyond that.
Maybe, but comparing them to the population of Oakland doesn’t make the point. Do you think that the qualified workforce in Oakland reflects the greater population? And why would Pandora even hire locally?
This is an issue, & it’s pointed out in most coverage of the report, but with the proper emphasis. You’re purposefully ignoring the full scope of the story in order to paint Pandora as a completely non-diverse company, rather than a company who’s diversity is concentrated elsewhere. It’s irresponsible for you to not at least mention that Pandora is more diverse when it comes to gender than Apple, Twitter, Facebook, etc. And comparing them to the population of Oakland is REALLY reaching.
And why would Pandora even hire locally?
And comparing them to the population of Oakland is REALLY reaching.
I think that depends on your outlook on local businesses. Certainly, Pandora is paying local taxes and I’m sure there are community outreach aspects (I haven’t researched this). But it is a little strange when a company’s demographic make-up is completely different than the community within which it resides. I think it’s worth looking at, at the very least.
Can you name a major tech company that exists anywhere in the U.S. that is 26% latino & 28% black?
I think the comparison should be made to the greater Bay Area, specifically other tech companies in the Bay Area, rather than Oakland specifically.
Also, am I flagged so that my comments must be approved? Or is it just that your comment system still blows?
My comments never show up when I post them these days. Sometimes it’s a day later, after the story is dead.
Comment post operation can be pretty hit or miss on this site.
So you’re saying DMN should bury the racial diversity aspect?
What a stupid thing to suggest.
Of course not. I’m saying cover it with the proper emphasis, like everyone else, don’t purposefully leave out relevant information in order to satisfy an agenda.
i hope pandora will hire much more white people.
that’s really a good decision.
nobody needs ugly multiculturalism in this proud company!
Perhaps there are not enough qualified black people. Hard to believe when you see the rocket scientists from Ferguson.
Pandora is racist. Explains a lot. FUCK STREAMING!!
Why are all those tech companies based so close to top military bases?
Hey Paul, why aren’t you reporting about this?
Kim Mafiacom got his assets frozen, again.
New Zealand Court Freezes Kim Dotcom’s Assets, Again
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-08-21/kim-dotcom-alleged-internet-pirate-loses-a-round-in-new-zealand
Why even say this? Is this an attempt at character assassination of Pandora?
Their track record on artist payments should suffice as Exhibit A for that case, and would be more on-topic.
Pandora’s hiring of blacks is only an issue of potential criticism if they are actively discriminating against equally qualified black applicants. If such candidates are not forthcoming, then Pandora cannot be attacked for not hiring.
The New Yorker
Pandora and the White Male
http://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/pandora-white-male
This is a very reasonable take on the stats.
So wait, Pandora because there is music involved
Is supposed to act differently than any other American
Corporation? Music is just the front person for a company
That gives a s..t about no one but themselves
The word is out about all these companies. The problem
Is they have the $ and we don’t.
IDK if Pandora is “racist” one may think that they would move out of Oakland and go where the percentages are more to their liking – it would almost be guaranteed that the taxes would not be business killing either. Saying that, if JJ’s statement about 75% of the jobs are non-tech in Oakland I think it should be verified and, if accurate, deeper review. First place? percentages of applicants. Then, why are the Asian folks over represented too – may have to fire some…. but, then again, there always is some collateral damage. (cynicism shake of head)
Paul, you do yourself a huge disservice by quoting “The New Yorker”. Pandora and the White Male? I thought someone said gender wasn’t an issue? Quoting any news source these days is giving legitimacy to the writers own biases not news.
Actually, their texture is in line with other tech companies and Silicon Valley in general. Why call out Pandora unless there was an agenda…. oh, right. Never mind.
“Why call out Pandora unless there was an agenda”
Nothing wrong with agendas. This is a music news site. When big tech corporations like Pandora and Google hurt musicians and the music industry it’s OK to call them out.
Where are Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson when you need them?
One needs to look at the makeup of the pool of applicants before making such claims. You have to have interested parties in order to make a hire. It might be that certain “groups” aren’t gravitating to certain companies. Perhaps they are, but until we know one way or the other, we’re crying “wolf” and prematurely stitching scarlet letters here. Not surprising given the hysteria surrounding racial politics in the US today.
You’re right. Black folks probably aren’t interested in being employed by racists.
There should be a chart here showing the diversity within other tech and high profile companies located nearby, just to make sure it’s only Pandora. City National Bank is in the same building. What percentage of their employees are black? Is this a Pandora problem, or just a problem in general? What percentage of African Americans apply for jobs at Pandora vs others? Is it much greater than 3%? Are they as qualified? Without that data, this seems like needless bashing.
Pandora is just trash anyways. And for all the bigots, you should all put your money together and move there together and don’t come back.