Comments on: Music Search: Exploration or Lookup? http://irgupf.com/2009/10/21/music-search-exploration-or-lookup/ Information Retrieval Research, Issues, and Discussion Tue, 14 Jun 2011 14:26:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.1.3 By: Information Retrieval Gupf » Doing to Music What They Did to the Web http://irgupf.com/2009/10/21/music-search-exploration-or-lookup/comment-page-1/#comment-5276 Information Retrieval Gupf » Doing to Music What They Did to the Web Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:48:06 +0000 http://irgupf.com/?p=967#comment-5276 [...] Music Search: Exploration or Lookup? [...] [...] Music Search: Exploration or Lookup? [...]

]]> By: jeremy http://irgupf.com/2009/10/21/music-search-exploration-or-lookup/comment-page-1/#comment-5199 jeremy Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:52:40 +0000 http://irgupf.com/?p=967#comment-5199 Jonathan, I totally agree. In fact, I should have also put this link, above: http://irgupf.com/2009/04/07/music-explaura-exploration-and-discovery-in-action/ See also Paul's blog, for lots more discussion in this area. Current: http://musicmachinery.com/ Archive: http://blogs.sun.com/plamere/ Jonathan,

I totally agree. In fact, I should have also put this link, above:

http://irgupf.com/2009/04/07/music-explaura-exploration-and-discovery-in-action/

See also Paul’s blog, for lots more discussion in this area.

Current: http://musicmachinery.com/
Archive: http://blogs.sun.com/plamere/

]]> By: Jonathan http://irgupf.com/2009/10/21/music-search-exploration-or-lookup/comment-page-1/#comment-5198 Jonathan Wed, 21 Oct 2009 22:49:49 +0000 http://irgupf.com/?p=967#comment-5198 You're right that the most interesting music searches aren't known item searches. If I want an mp3 of something I already know, then text search is fine. Even if I don't know the song, but have a recording of it, acoustic fingerprinting (apparently) works well enough. I often want new music, which is by definition an unknown/exploratory search problem. Recommender systems like Pandora sometimes work, but I've found (at least with Pandora) they suffer from lack of diversity or sometimes just put correlated musicians together that don't actually sound anything alike. (Right now Pandora suggested the Silversun Pickups on my TV on the Radio station. Both bands I enjoy immensely, but I wouldn't characterize them as similar.) Trying to direct your search with a recommender is like playing blind man's bluff. If I thumb up a song, I'm saying I like the song, which I might, but I'm also saying "show me more of this," which isn't necessarily what I'm looking for. When I thumb one down, I'm saying "don't show me this," but what if I do like the song, it's just not what I'm looking for right now? It would be nicer if instead of just text search and recommender systems, we had a system that took text search as a starting point (say a song title, artist, or genre) and then let user explore not only the social/historical connections among the musicians but also navigate the style information (the "music genome" in Pandora-speak). Not even necessarily in music theory language (I have no idea what "vamping" is, but Pandora says I like it.), but just "lighter," "darker," or perhaps expressing (dis)similarity with respect to other musicians. You’re right that the most interesting music searches aren’t known item searches. If I want an mp3 of something I already know, then text search is fine. Even if I don’t know the song, but have a recording of it, acoustic fingerprinting (apparently) works well enough.

I often want new music, which is by definition an unknown/exploratory search problem. Recommender systems like Pandora sometimes work, but I’ve found (at least with Pandora) they suffer from lack of diversity or sometimes just put correlated musicians together that don’t actually sound anything alike. (Right now Pandora suggested the Silversun Pickups on my TV on the Radio station. Both bands I enjoy immensely, but I wouldn’t characterize them as similar.) Trying to direct your search with a recommender is like playing blind man’s bluff. If I thumb up a song, I’m saying I like the song, which I might, but I’m also saying “show me more of this,” which isn’t necessarily what I’m looking for. When I thumb one down, I’m saying “don’t show me this,” but what if I do like the song, it’s just not what I’m looking for right now?

It would be nicer if instead of just text search and recommender systems, we had a system that took text search as a starting point (say a song title, artist, or genre) and then let user explore not only the social/historical connections among the musicians but also navigate the style information (the “music genome” in Pandora-speak). Not even necessarily in music theory language (I have no idea what “vamping” is, but Pandora says I like it.), but just “lighter,” “darker,” or perhaps expressing (dis)similarity with respect to other musicians.

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