List of Music Genome Project Attributes

Pandora is one of my favorite sites as it combines both music and technology, the 2 things I spend most of my time exploring. It was started by the Music Genome Project, who has worked to catalog songs based on a common set of musical attributes. Examples of how specific this gets are: synth rock arranging, electronica influences, subtle use of vocal harmony, a vocal-centric aesthetic, major key tonality, prominent use of synth, a prominent accordion part, romantic lyrics. This cataloging, along with some important licensing contracts, make it possible to create a technology that will create radio stations around particular artists or songs.

All you do is type in the artist or song, and it will group together all the music attributes that apply, and find music that has matching attributes. Simple, and beautiful.

But my one question: do they actually have a person sitting there listening to tracks all day to identify these attributes? If they had an algorithm, that would be great, but how could a computer decide if a song is romantic? Tres interessant…

Tags: music genome project, pandora