What does "We have decided that this submission does not fit our collection needs at this time" mean?

We have a deep respect for music and those who create it, and we take the responsibility of curating Pandora's music collection very seriously.

We see an enormous—and ever-growing—amount of music, and the task of selecting music is made even harder by the limits on our capacity for adding music. Every song selected is manually analyzed by a trained musician along up to 400 distinct musical attributes, a process that can take anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours per song. So, while we feel a great affection and respect for everyone who makes the choice to create music, the reality is that the majority of the music we receive does not get selected.

Please understand that there is no larger significance or judgment made or implied by our adding or not adding a certain record. This decision has been made purely on the basis of what is best for Pandora's collection right now, including how much music in a particular genre we already have, and how that music has been performing on Pandora. Many artists, including current and former Pandora employees, don't have any music on Pandora.

Please note that because of the huge amount of music still waiting to be analyzed, we do not reconsider submissions once an initial decision has been made. That said, suggestions from listeners and ongoing external research help guide our purchases.

We strongly encourage you to keep going forward with your musical projects. Thank you for your interest, and please keep us apprised of your future releases.

The Pandora Music Team