DJALCHEMI

Why is Pandora big in Beverly Hills?

An amusing little bit of trivia about Pandora, the online music discovery service that I've written about a few times (here's my most in-depth review). Yesterday's CNET News feature on Pandora mentions in passing that the most popular zip code of Pandora users is Beverly Hills' 90210.

Pandora is only licensed in the US. To use it you have to provide your US zip code, but that's the only check Pandora does on your location, I believe. So if you're outside the US, and you want to use Pandora, what are you going to do? Pick a zip code out of the air perhaps? And if you did, which zip code might come quickest to the mind of a non-US citizen? Possibly one that features in the title of an internationally syndicated soap opera? Even as someone who has never seen Beverly Hills 90210 on the TV, I am aware of it from reading TV listings. Call me cynical, but could that explain Pandora's apparent popularity in that part of California? (Of course, I don't endorse anyone falsifying their zip code. No, not me. Not a good idea.)