Music content
In addition to metadata-based systems, information about the content of music can be used to help users find music. Content-based music description identifies what the user is seeking even when he does not know specifically what he is looking for.
For example, the Shazam system (shazam.com) can identify a particular recording from a sample taken on a mobile phone in a dance club or crowded bar and deliver the artist, album, and track title along with nearby locations to purchase the recording or a link for direct online purchasing and downloading. Users with a melody but no other information can turn to the online music service Nayio (nayio.com) which allows one to sing a query and attempts to identify the work.
In the recording industry, companies have used systems based on symbolic information about musical content, such as melody, chords, rhythm, and lyrics, to analyze the potential impact of a work in the marketplace. Services such as Polyphonic HMI’s Hit Song Science and Platinum Blue Music Intelligence use such symbolic information with techniques from Artificial Intelligence to make consultative recommendations about new releases.
