I just read a review of Zune vs Nano/IPod.  This review included the following assessment of their respective “genius” tools that recommends other bands, a la Pandora:

Another highlight of the Nano’s makeover is the new “Genius” feature, which is meant to help you put playlists together by taking one song as a starting point and suggesting other tracks with a similar sound or feel. Or if you try this from a computer, while using the iTunes software, a Genius sidebar shows related songs you can buy from the online iTunes Store.

This gave me some interesting suggestions, like Fujiya & Miyagi’s light electro-groove tune “Cassettesingle” when I used The Bird and the Bee’s dreamy-sounding pop song “Because” as a starting point. But it seemed a bit off-base by suggesting Jason Mraz’s cheerful “I’m Yours” when I started with Rihanna’s dark-sounding “Disturbia.”

The Zune’s latest software includes a similar feature called Mixview that uses thumbnails of album art and artist photos to illustrate users’ listening patterns and give music suggestions. Visually, Mixview is miles above the Genius feature, as the images show up in a circular pattern around a rectangle containing a user’s profile information.

We should all remember to keep in mind that it is going to be how people listen to music and have access to this information on new music which will dictate the future revenue streams for all musicians, independent or signed.  The key for independent musicians will be getting their music on these features and determining and ensuring their songs are evaluated and offered in a way that is consistent with their intended fan base.

More to come on this in the near future…