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August 18, 2006
Forever Music
Dear Larry,
I don’t own an iPod, and I’m frankly growing tired of my
music collection and of radio stations that keep playing the same music over and
over again. Are there any computer-based recommendations you can offer?
M. E.
Dear M. E.,
Even if you did own an iPod, I’d heartily suggest you visit
www.pandora.com and learn about and benefit
from the Music Genome Project. That’s right, the Music Genome Project.
The concept was founded by Tim Westergren, a musician’s
musician who has scored tracks for countless independent films and found himself
constantly being asked by directors to find music “like this song.” For example,
Westergren shares an example of one director requesting music along the lines of
folk singer Natalie Merchant. Westergren immediately recognized that the
director wanted a “moody, minor key-ish, meandering style of music...He never
told me that explicitly, but that was the kind of music he [was aiming for].”
So how does this help you? When you visit Pandora’s web site,
you’ll be asked to suggest one song or artist that you find particularly
appealing. Pandora will play a song by that artist and then go on to play
similar songs by similar artists. How does it do this? Pandora’s team of 30+
analysts creates DNA blueprints for each of hundreds of thousands of songs
composed or sung by tens of thousands of artists. The site’s database engine
then uses these characteristics to recommend and play music it thinks you’d
like. This differs dramatically from other services like the iTunes Music Store,
which care more about what other people are buying and listening to. Pandora
appreciates that each individual music lover is different and therefore caters
its selections to each person’s tastes. Note that the music streams (i.e., plays
directly) from the Internet so no music is ever downloaded and there’s nothing
to pay for.
You can customize Pandora’s selection process in many
different ways. You can add the names of artists or songs that you especially
like to your “personal music station.” If you’re listening to a new song that
you love, tell Pandora and it will adjust itself accordingly; hear one that you
despise and Pandora will stop playing it altogether and move on to better
choices. The more feedback you provide Pandora, the better it will be at
suggesting and playing new music it thinks you’d enjoy.
For example, in my case, Pandora played a song I had never
heard of by an artist totally foreign to me. But I did like it, and I queried
Pandora as to why it chose this particular tune. It replied, “Based on what
you’ve told us so far, we’re playing this track because it features major key
tonality, melodic songwriting, an emotional female lead vocal performance,
acoustic rhythm guitars, and many other similarities...”
Honestly, Pandora is pretty amazing. That’s thanks to the fact
that the company’s analysts spend up to a half-hour characterizing each and
every song that crosses their desks using 400 different musical idiosyncrasies
or “genes.” Terms like “mild rhythmic syncopation,” “minor key tonality,”
“repetitive melodic phrasing,” “extensive vamping,” and “vocal harmonies” are
among the many that are carefully considered, one song at a time. Even if you’re
not a musical genius and have no idea what these concepts really mean, you’ll
still appreciate the results. Westergren points out that “they essentially cover
all of the granular details of melody, harmony, rhythm, form, compositional
qualities and lyrics. I think of it as the primary colors, the distinct elements
[that make up a song]. For example, there are over 30 attributes that describe
the voice alone; how much vibrato, range, ornamentation, tone, performance. The
sound of any voice, whether it’s a Tuvan throat singer or Mariah Carey, we have
a basic collection of primary colors that can describe it in one big continuum.”
Of course, Pandora can’t predict all of your musical tastes. The group admits
that there are a lot of musical attributes they ignore altogether: social and
cultural phenomena, personal components like when you first heard a particular
song, whether others think it’s cool, and so forth. In spite of its minor
limitations, Pandora represents a minor miracle in the way it catalogs and
predicts musical tastes. Give it a try and prepare yourself to be amazed!
This is Larry Schneider, logging off.
