Pandora began creating their signature Music Genome Project in 2000, eventually providing music lovers with an entirely new way to appreciate their music and discover more. Despite the free Internet radio service’s enormous popularity, it remains restricted in its capabilities by the copyright laws that govern the files it streams. So what about those who want the same powers of music analysis that Pandora boasts without the Internet dependency or lack of playlist control?
That’s where music analysis software like MusicIP’s Mixer and MyDJ plug-ins shine. Instead of allowing a user to request a radio station based on particular tastes, MusicIP creates playlists of music already stored on a home computer based on the attributes of a specific song, album or artist.
For users with a limited music collection, this can serve as a way of discovering new music, much like Pandora. The full Mixer program can even list helpful recommendations of new artists or songs based on any analyzed song in your library.
The MyDJ plug-ins condense the software to just the basics and integrate MusicIP’s acoustic analysis into popular audio players. A plug-in for Winamp is currently available, a beta for PC iTunes was recently released, and plug-ins for Mac OS iTunes and Windows Media Player are in development.
Many companies have created similar services in recent years, including Tangerine and Veenix TuneExplorer for Apple users and online recommendation databases like Orange Spain and The Filter.
What makes the development of such music analysis software so innovative and powerful is its ability to revitalize a music library, making it useful for the Top-40 listener and audiophile alike. Instead of having to call into the radio station to identify a song, and then search through the CD racks at a local retailer, consumers can expand their musical tastes using their own music. And for the dusty vinyl scavenger and headphone-toting music junkie, this is good news indeed.
Finding that perfect indie hit is less of a challenge with today’s digital influence on music fandom. If a band doesn’t rise to notoriety from Pitchfork’s heavy-handed pimping or the simplistic glory of a money-siphoning Apple commercial, a recommendation from your laptop is just as good these days as one from a hipster friend. In fact, blog bands like Arctic Monkeys and Vampire Weekend survive on such computer-assisted additions to word-of-mouth hype.
Listeners have felt this change along with radio stations, record companies and garage bands, and the effects of music analysis software will only prove more significant in the future. As the concept of a digital music library continues to replace stacks of CDs, the question is not whether people will use their digital collections to seek more music — the question is how much more simple and effective this process will become.
