Has anyone heard of the Music Genome Project?

The Seeker of Good Songs

Well-Known Member
Has anyone heard of this:

from:
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/55157/pandora_internet_radio.html

"Music is a very personal experience, and the folks at Pandora understand this. That’s why they created the Music Genome Project. Six years in the making, the Music Genome Project involves 30 musician-analysts listening to thousands of songs and placing them into unique categories based on melody, harmony, rhythm, vocals…etc. In 2006 the project was officially launched on www.Pandora.com.
What’s so great about Pandora?
Firstly, it’s free to join. Users can create a profile and store up to 100 “stations” based on a particular band of interest, and each song that follows will have elements similar to the chosen artist’s. For example, in a search for REO Speedwagon, the musician analysts included in the band’s station music with “basic rock song structures, a subtle use of vocal harmonies, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation, a vocal-centric aesthetic and major key tonality.” One of the songs chosen by the analysts was Fleetwood Mac’s “Go your own way” because it shares the above elements. To show how expansive the music of the project encompasses, a search for Depeche Mode turns up songs that have “electronic influences, subtle use of vocal harmony and synthetic sonority.” Eighties one-hit wonders A-Ha are one of the artists chosen in comparison to Depeche Mode’s sound, as they also have an electronic sound and use synthesizers.
Another perk of joining Pandora is the option of bypassing a song if the user doesn’t like it. During a song’s play, one can click on an animated thumbs up to keep a song on a station, or thumbs down if they never want to hear it again. There’s also the option of having the question “Why is this song playing” answered if a listener feels that it sounds nothing like the original artist. As previously mentioned, this is an on-going effort, so questions are welcomed regarding the site as well as suggestions for artists and songs to be included in the Project. What can be more rewarding than being part of a living project that has set out to entertain millions of Internet users? "


http://www.pandora.com/


I enetered in Morrissey, and it started off with "Will Never Marry" and then, "Tandem: City to City" by the Faint, then "Pashernate Love", then "At Least the Pain is Real" by Neva Devona.


I never heard of these other two groups.
 
I'm not too keen on these algorithms that come and tell you what kind of music you're going to like... I used to work in a company that developed a similar thing. It could be impressive at first try, but gets tiresome and expected quite quickly... at least for me. I'd rather get recommendations from real people with real taste...
 
The Faint is a really good band, I discovered them when I accidentaly went to their concert and fell completely inlove.


I'm just not sure if they're compatible with Morrissey, I'd most likely put them somewhere together with Depeche Mode but hey, it's random so it's not like it has to be 100% accurate.
 
What you say seems to be so, because a song was just played, "Shutterbug" by Aria, and I clicked on the "Why did you play this song" link and the response was:

"Based on what you told us so far, we're playing this track because it features electric rock instrumentation, mixed acoustic and electric instumentation, major key tonality and many other similarities identified in the music genome project."


Doesn't sound like Morriseey to me. I think I will pass.
 
I like the idea, but I think there's a better way to do it. Why don't they just have people pick their favorite bands, play them things, and then see what they pick? Presumably Moz fans would similar things, and then when the next Moz fan comes along, it would be more accurate. The best part is it would become more accurate over time, as (for example) more Moz fans come along and make their preferences known. Is there a website that does it like that? Surely there is, I know I'm not the first person to think of this. I think it would be more accurate (and probably more simple) than relying on "musician-analysts."
 
veradicere said:
I like the idea, but I think there's a better way to do it. Why don't they just have people pick their favorite bands, play them things, and then see what they pick? Presumably Moz fans would similar things, and then when the next Moz fan comes along, it would be more accurate. The best part is it would become more accurate over time, as (for example) more Moz fans come along and make their preferences known. Is there a website that does it like that? Surely there is, I know I'm not the first person to think of this. I think it would be more accurate (and probably more simple) than relying on "musician-analysts."
audioscrobbler does something a little bit like that.
 
The very first group that I put into Pandora were The Smiths (creating "The Smiths Radio" :D ). At first, the songs that were played sounded remarkably similiar, in many ways--that is, most of the artists who were played were obviously greatly influenced by The Smiths' sound.

Then, of course, as time went on, and I checked "I like this song" and "I hate this song", everything veered a bit. They've played everything from Neil Young, to Radiohead, to Dinosaur, Jr., to Richard Thompson.

I do like Pandora, though I listen to it but rarely. Some songs do seem to be "plants"--I mean, they once played PuffyAmiYumi on my "Kate Bush Radio" (I don't know if that was more of an insult to Kate Bush or to me!) and Hilary Duff :)confused: ) on my "Sinead O'Connor Radio".
 
The fact that I like Morrissey's music doesn't mean I like anybody else whose musical arrangement just sounds similar to him; my taste is rather diverse (including those old Eurovision songs, too, and some punk, etc etc) and whether or not I like a song depends on other criteria and not only on the musical pattern that a computer programme can analyse. Veradicere's approach sounds better, but that's probably too complex for the software, the amount of data would explode, no? What is not taken into account, either, is that you may be open for new things to discover, that your taste may change, etc.
And finally, don't you think this will lead in the opposite direction, so that many artists and songs will never reach your ears in the future because some software thinks you would not like them? I don't know much about this project, but isn't it the same thing that also tries to determine whether a particular song will be a hit or not? This will make it even harder for more unsual, non-mainstream artists to find an audience.
Maybe I'm exaggerating, but this sounds really strange to me. Perfect for the music business..
 
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