Nolan Gasser

Nolan Gasser
Born (1964-11-10) November 10, 1964 (age 60)
La Mirada, California
Occupation(s)Composer, musicologist, pianist, artistic director

Nolan Ira Gasser (born November 10, 1964) is an American composer, pianist, and musicologist. He was the chief musicologist for Pandora Media, Inc. and the architect of the Music Genome Project,[1][2] the proprietary musical analysis system that underlies the popular Internet radio service. His classical compositions have been performed by orchestras, chamber ensembles, and soloists around the world, in such venues as Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and the Rose Bowl.

Gasser scored his first film soundtrack, for Lance Kinsey's comedy All-Stars (starring Fred Willard and John Goodman), which was released in October 2014.[3] Gasser was the subject of the documentary, “Musicology”, as part of “the Collectors” series on prominent data collectors / purveyors, by Nate Silver's FiveThirtyEight and ESPN Films.[4]

Gasser is the Artistic Director of Classical Archives,[5] a leading online classical musical service.

Gasser received his Ph.D. in musicology from Stanford University. He frequently performs as well as lectures around the United States – on music, and the relationship between music and science. He is also working with the Chicago-based company Mission Metrics, to help develop an Impact Genome Project, on behalf of social impact program measurement across all social sectors (education, food security, poverty, culture and identity, health, etc.). The project has been subject to critique by the social science community who cite its opaque methodology and oversimplication of complex social issues.

  1. ^ "Digging Into Pandora's Music Genome with Musicologist Nolan Gasser" by Matthew Lasar, Ars Technica (January 12, 2011)
  2. ^ "The Song Decoders at Pandora" by Rob Walker, The New York Times (October 14, 2009)
  3. ^ "All-Stars on iMDb". IMDb. Retrieved February 15, 2019.
  4. ^ "Breaking Music Down To Its Genes". 20 May 2015. Retrieved February 15, 2018.
  5. ^ "New Ways to Buy Bach Online" by John Jurgensen, The Wall Street Journal (May 8, 2009)