My favourite CD shop when I was a kid was small and selectively stocked. Small handwritten comments adorned every cover, and the owner had a forensic ability to make music recommendations that bordered on precognition. Unfortunately his story ended on a familiar note. Run out of business by a chain store. Now there is the new generation of online recommendation networks chasing the Holy Grail of consumer preferences analysis. Namely – can you help people figure out what they like?
Using technology to profile consumer preferences is nothing new. Amazon pioneered it with books, Netflix with DVDs and TiVo with TV programs. The approaches vary, but are generally based on a statistical method known as collaborative filtering. By comparing your transaction history with customers with similar purchasing habits, a recommendation system can then predict other products you might like. Sometimes that works well – people who enjoyed watching action extravaganzas like Terminator 3, will probably enjoy Mission Impossible. But there are certainly limitations to that approach – identity confusion being a central one (as infamously reported in the Wall Street Journal article “My TiVo Thinks I’m Gay”). Buying books for your wife on your Amazon account or letting someone else use your remote on you TiVo can suddenly make a supposedly clever recommendation service seem more artificial than intelligent.
Apparently – the ipod changes everything. Music suggestion services are running hot again. Pandora, Last.FM and Music Strands are all recently funded and offer varying degrees of music advice. Pandora in particular – has taken the unique tactic of employing music analysts to study the underlying structure of recordings to classify them based on set criteria such as speed, rhythm, and even rapping style. These elements, or DNA, then form the basis for the system to match your music tastes to new music based on your current listening patterns. Enter a song you like, and Pandora will tell you another song you ought to like as well. It’s intriguing if not a touch totalitarian.
While it may be fun daydreaming of magic equations that predict consumer tastes, a more fruitful path might lie in the less scientific, grassroots community networks organised around music interests. Both Last.fm and Music Strands have online friendship and group forum functions built into their service – but there is no better current example of social networking and music at work than MySpace. First and foremost, MySpace is about finding, chatting, and co-creating content with friends. However, somewhere along the line music also became a key part of the service. So, although MySpace is not designed to actively recommend new music, the same result is achieved by connecting with other users and sharing the experience of music and bands with them.
The shared experience of entertainment media is an area that has been overlooked until recently. If you look at the companies that Yahoo has been buying such as Flickr (community photo sharing) and del.icio.us (community content tagging) – a powerful subtext is that people not only want to create their own content, but that they also want to share it with each other. One of the prevailing lunacies from some Web 2.0 crack addicts is that community generated content will overwhelm anything created by a publisher, movie studio or record label. But if you look closely at the content of many popular blogs today, and you will see how much of the discussion centers around popular movies, recording artists or books. In other words – we are witnessing the shared experience of media rather than its demise.
That said – where future recommendation systems will make themselves most useful is in the area of emerging rather than established artists and high budget entertainment products. Everyone has heard of Madonna, Star Wars and Harry Potter, and probably already has a clear view about whether they want to consume those products or not – irrespective of what their friends or an online recommendation service might say. However, what is really interesting and hard to search for are those hot new acts and talents that only a few people have heard of.
Seen in this light, recommendation is actually a subtle problem of search rather than one of taste comparison. The problem is complex because it cannot be solved by spiders indexing content or a set of clever probability algorithms. In an emergent social network based on music, the most effective filters are actually other people. This is not a theoretical argument. You can see this trend in action. The reason that over half a million bands are using MySpace to market themselves today is that it is a highly effective platform for recruiting fans, distributing music and encouraging an ever widening circle of conversations about your brand. It is a total reversal of the usual way of thinking about consumer purchasing behaviour. Don’t search for the music. It will find you.






O.M.G. I just love music so much i just wanted to read about it
Posted by: Aymila | November 05, 2008 at 05:06 AM
I took a quick first read through this and was quite impressed with what you have pulled together. I'm looking forward to going back and reading through it again with a highlighter and pen to make remarks and take notes.
Great stuff!
Posted by: art paintings | July 24, 2010 at 01:22 PM
*The person who thinks himself is happy can enjoy happiness!
Posted by: christian louboutin | November 09, 2010 at 02:00 PM
yeah, this is not a theoretical argument.i can see this trend in action.
Posted by: Best Mp3 Players | December 06, 2010 at 02:45 PM
Oye, el trabajo realmente grande,
Me gustaría participar en tu blog de ??todos modos así que por favor seguir compartiendo con nosotros,
Gracias
Posted by: Generic Cialis | April 02, 2011 at 06:39 PM
Really nice job,There are many people searching about that now they will find enough sources by your tips.
Posted by: ゼチーア | June 06, 2011 at 08:38 PM
So wonderful!Very worth to read.
Posted by: Red Bottom Shoes | June 14, 2011 at 06:32 PM
Realmente gran post, Gracias por compartir este artículo knowledge.Excellently por escrito, si sólo todos los bloggers que ofrece el mismo nivel de contenido como, el Internet sería un lugar mucho mejor. Por favor, sigue así!..
Posted by: Careprost | June 16, 2011 at 09:01 PM
Mauris ut dui vel plures us.there questio de viribus tuis, iam satis invenient post.I ut una nobiscum socius persevero vestri blog usquam ut placeas Skönt att vara besöka din blogg igen, har det varit månader för mig. Väl här artikeln som jag har väntat så länge. Jag behöver den här artikeln för att slutföra mitt uppdrag i kollegiet, och den har samma tema med din artikel. Tack, bra aktie.
Posted by: Generic Mexitil | July 01, 2011 at 07:55 PM
Grande informazione, hai un blog meraviglioso e un ottimo articolo!
Posted by: Generic Viagra | July 19, 2011 at 09:17 PM
Nautin todella Reding viestejäsi koska olen oppia paljon niistä. Olen myös avartamaan ajattelua niin pitkälle kuin mitä voin käyttää ja tehdä asioita
Rate translation
Posted by: Kamagra | August 16, 2011 at 02:21 PM
Nautin todella Reding viestejäsi koska olen oppia paljon niistä. Olen myös avartamaan ajattelua niin pitkälle kuin mitä voin käyttää ja tehdä asioita
Rate translation
Posted by: Kamagra | August 16, 2011 at 09:42 PM
I wonder how you got so good. This is really a fascinating blog, lots of stuff that I can get into. One thing I just want to say is that your Blog is so perfect!.
Posted by: Silagra | October 05, 2011 at 07:59 PM
Great information you got here. I've been reading about this topic for one week now for my papers in school and thank God I found it here in your blog. I had a great time reading this.
Posted by: Generic Viagra | November 10, 2011 at 12:17 AM
I’ll be back soon on your site again so please continue sharing your great tips.
Posted by: SEO Services India | November 21, 2011 at 10:16 PM
It makes me feel so surprise.I never know there is such a wonderful place that I can find what I need,
Posted by: Generic Viagra | December 12, 2011 at 10:15 PM
I wonder how you got so good. This is really a fascinating blog, lots of stuff that I can get into. One thing I just want to say is that your Blog is so perfect!
Posted by: Generic Viagra | December 17, 2011 at 11:24 PM