Mon 18th of May, filed under SEO
Platform allowing users to find music through descriptions coming soon
A new type of search engine that helps users discover music by typing in queries rather than song titles, album or artist names is being prepared for launch later this year.
People looking for ’dark house music with lots of bass’, would be able use this as their search term, and the experimental system, which takes the form of a Facebook quiz called ‘Herd It’, provides results with specific song suggestions that best match the description. ‘Herd It’ is a music trivia game for Facebook, where players can compete against each other.
The search service, dubbed the new ‘Google for music’ has been developed by a team of electrical engineers at Jacobs School of Engineering at University of California (UC) San Diego. It uses machine learning (this recognises algorithms based on data) to ‘listen’ to songs the search platform has never heard before and then label them based on the actual sounds in the song.
Entertainment with purpose
The search engine’s algorithm automatically segments the texture and dynamic elements of a song and then separates them into sections such as verses, choruses and bridges. The search service covers more than 100 terms that take in music genres, emotions and instruments.
Lead engineer Professor Gert Lanckriet said: “The Facebook games are a lot of fun and a great way to discover new music. At the same time, the games deliver the data we need to teach our computer audition system to listen to and describe music like humans do.”
