Launching a station on Pandora is only the beginning. Pandora offers a toolbox of features to customize, curate, and remix your stations. Throughout Stations 101, we are going to look at the ways you can take control of your stations and create a truly unique listening experience. To kick things off, let's talk about the most powerful tool you have as a listener, Thumbs.
Using Thumbs is the simplest way to train your station on the songs you like and the tracks you prefer not to hear. But what do Thumbs actually do? Let's look at exactly what happens when you hit that Thumbs Up or Thumbs Down.
Thumbs Up:
When you hear a song that fits the vibe of your station be sure to hit the Thumbs Up icon. This tells Pandora that you want to hear more music like this on your station. You’ll soon start hearing more similar music in the rotation.
The more you use Thumbs Up, the more Pandora will learn the songs you love. To see how well Pandora is getting to know your taste, check out Thumbprint Radio. This station plays the thumbed up songs from all your stations, as well as other songs similar to those Thumbs that we think you'll enjoy.
If you’re a Pandora Premium user or activating a Premium Access session, you can also listen to the My Thumbs Up playlist which hosts an archive of the songs you've Thumbed Up in the past.
Thumbs Down:
Hitting the Thumbs Down icon on your station doesn’t necessarily mean you dislike the song or the artist, it just means that you don’t want to hear it again on this station. Importantly, this will not prevent the song from appearing on other stations.
You may love Celine Dion’s "My Heart Will Go On" but that doesn’t mean it’s the vibe for your Mom’s Retirement Party station. Not to worry, just use that Thumb Down and it will remain in the rotation on your Songs For My Next Cruise station.
Using your Thumbs will transform a Pandora station into your station. Have more questions about Thumbs or need help editing the Thumbs on your station? Check out our Thumbs Help article for more information.