Music Genes?

   My daughter was hogging the computer the other day forcing me to find something constructive to do with my time, but I was confused by the sounds I heard coming from the computer.  Normally she watches television shows that for one reason or another she can't on our TV.   But this was music.  Which seemed odd.  So I asked her what she was doing.  She described to me  "Pandora Radio".  Which she claimed never plays a song you don't like.   I was skeptical, but she said  you just type in a song and then it will use the Music Genome Project  To select songs you  would like based on the song you picked.  My daughter claimed she has yet to hear a song she didn't like.  I was not so lucky.

   I was curious & eager to try it, but first off it didn't even recognize the 1st half dozen songs I tried.  Finally I went to something simple and semi-popular.  ("Birdhouse in your Soul" by They Might Be Giants) It was recognized, and my journey commenced.   And I really didn't like the first 3 out of 6 songs and finally gave up and tried something else.  I still have yet to find something I can listen to consistently without getting bored.  But that may just be me. 

 The thing is, I love the whole concept of Musical DNA is fascinating, even if it is for commercial purposes.   I don't know while not thrilled with the radio part, I am excited by the new ways we keep finding to explore all aspects of our world.  And yes it's art, it can't be dissected.  (probably why I can't find a consistent stream of songs I like)  But I think the more we explore it the more we can learn about ourselves. 

Comments

sconway - Wed, 01/21/2009 - 01:20

I think the Pandora music genome is a brilliant idea. Agreed, it does have some obvious commercial applications, but what vaults it to something beyond that is the fact that it opens so many doors to new and different artistic experiences you might not ever come across on your own. You never have to buy a single track of music for that process of discovery to be a very valuable thing.

It's a bit like Alice falling down the rabbit hole. You don't know where you're going to end up, but you're glad you went on the adventure nevertheless. Seeing how art and artists relate in ways you might not expect also challenges you to make your own connections between seemingly disparate sources. It helps keep the mind flexible and open to new things.

I have floated the idea of the Great Game Tree before which is, in essence, another way of asking for a game genome. BGG has done yeoman's work in some areas, but I don't think it lends itself well to the kind of freeform wanderings through a back catalog the way Pandora does. There's plenty of room at the table for a project like this... any takers?

scooterb23 - Thu, 01/22/2009 - 15:17

Steerpike - Thu, 01/22/2009 - 17:03

I use Last.FM and over a period of about six months it seems to have mapped my musical genome pretty well (and my tastes are pretty eclectic).

So now the gauntlet is down for the game genome

xofour - Fri, 01/23/2009 - 03:29

  That may be why I like TMBG so much, and it makes sense that is why it didn't work out very well.   I keep playing with it occasionally.  My best bit yet was done by choosing a song I knew, but wasn't necessarily a "favorite".   I am having a ton of fun playing with making up channels just to see what will pop out.  I did a chanel based on Stephen Lynch's D&D and wound up with a bunch of show tunes.  

  I came across a reference to last.fm while reading about the music Genome project.  What is it like steerpike?

And of course the game  Tree project would be AWESOME.  I can't wait to see somebody much smarter than me take up the challenge.  Although, it would be cool to take part in because you would have/get to do all the research into all kinds of games.  That might be worth volunteering for, but I don't know how good I would be at analyzine  & disecting them.  How would the tree work?  Do you start from the 1st known game (which was?)  and then trace how they all branch out from that one like a family tree, or is it more like game blackberries where it's a kind of bundled mass of intersecting vines?  (bad example, it's getting late & i'm having (even more) trouble thinking.  sorry)

 

Steerpike - Sat, 01/24/2009 - 17:09

I really rate Last.fm highly.

the fuzzy logic is very smart.

I'm off to eat some game blackberries. Or make wine from them :-)