Can you still seed stations with multiple songs or multiple artists?

[lisabarnes2]

I've had a Pandora account for 10+ years and I remember that you used to be able to seed stations with multiple songs or multiple artists, but I can't find how to do that now.  You used to be able to do this even on free accounts, I think, definitely on the lower-cost paid tier, but now I can't see how to do it.  I recently upgraded from Plus to Premium in part to see if this is now a Premium feature.  I still don't see a way to start a new station with multiple seeds, or to add a new seed song or artist to an existing station.  Can this be done these days?

BTW, LiveXLive (new name for Slacker Radio), for their 99 cents/month subscription level, allows this!    

[lisabarnes2 · Accepted solution]

No need for any replies, because I figured out myself how to do it.  I'm going to put in a feature request to put in better documentation into the app, i.e. a button that says "Why can't I add variety to this station?" to stations that are based on ones curated by Pandora.  I've been a Pandora user for years and haven't understood it until I spent time testing yesterday and reading the support forums.

[AlyssaPandora]

Hi, @lisabarnes2. 👋

The short answer is yes. You can add multiple artists and/or song seeds to your station, as long as it isn't a genre station.

Genre stations, such as "Today's Hits" or "Easy Listening," are stations curated by Pandora, and they behave a little bit differently than your own personalized stations. One difference is that you cannot Add Variety to these stations. That's because Adding Variety could change your listening experience on these stations; added seeds would most likely inspire music outside of the scope of the intended genre.

When listening from a computer, mobile device or the Sonos app, you can access Pandora Modes to customize your station experience. You can pick different modes like Crowd Faves, Discovery and Deep Cuts.

++

Another community member created this existing feature suggestion: Ability to Edit Genre Stations

To upvote this idea, click on the 💙icon next to the title of the suggestion. 

Hope this information is helpful. 🎧

[lisabarnes2]

Actually, I don't think that preventing users from editing genre stations is a terrible idea.  It is very easy to drastically change the character of a station with just one or two new seeds.  I had a new agey station a long time ago that I somehow turned into a jazzy station accidentally and have had other experiments go awry too, haha.  If a user took the 70's Light Rock station and added even one 2021 Rap seed, it might make people think that Pandora's curated stations are poorly done.  My request is just to make it easier for users to understand which stations can have the seeds edited on which not, by adding more documentation into the user interface itself.

[AlyssaPandora]

I completely understand where you're coming from, @lisabarnes2.

Feel free to create a feature suggestion here. Can't wait to hear more of your ideas.

Hope to see you around the community space more often!

[scottgretz]

Hi Lisa,

You wrote that you can add song seeds or artists to a station you created yourself. Please tell me how to do that.  I am a long time user of Pandora and I see that that feature has been removed.

Thanks,

Scott

[AdamPandora]

@scottgretz What is the name of the station you are unable to add variety to?

Let me know.