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Pandora Fails

rootlesscosmorootlesscosmo 12,848 Posts
edited January 2010 in Strut Central
I searched: "Move on Up."I got: "Freddies Dead" >>> "Inner City Blues (LIVE)" >>> "Jamiroqai: Emergency On Planet Earth."FAIL.Add on.

  Comments

  • dstill808dstill808 704 Posts
    Big co-sign on this. I've been to seminars given by these guys where they go off on how "objective" their referral system is, analyzing music by it's composite elements to recommend similar sounding stuff as determined by a team of experts on the music genome project, basically ensuring that non-musical factors such as popularity, association, location, etc. don't come into play. So how come it always ends up looking like tips from Billboard Magazine?

    Typical search results tend to look like:

    Outkast: Goodie Mobb>> Outkast >> Young Jeezy >> Outkast >> Ludacris

    Prince: Prince >> Prince >> Shiela E >> Prince >> The Time

    Radiohead: Thom Yorke >> Coldplay >> Radiohead >> Snow Patrol >> Radiohead
  • UnherdUnherd 1,880 Posts
    I think the point is thats it's free music to listen to. And its pretty easy to point in the direction of whatever you're in the mood for.

    I just hate when I hear a song's live version two songs after the studio version. Its a pretty great service, its just that their library doesnt go that deep.
  • willie_fugalwillie_fugal 1,862 Posts
    Pandora's just not really for "us". All of my non-record nerd friends think it's the greatest thing evar. I never really use it, except every now & then when I search "Chopin" and let it do its thing.
  • dstill808dstill808 704 Posts
    Totally, and that's fair. I think it's just that I really like the idea of the way they _claim_ it works. Imagine if it really did analyze music on an objective criteria and serve results that matched purely sonically! The fact that this is what they make a fuss about doing, with the whole music genome project and whatnot when it's clearly not the case is frustrating.
  • AlmondAlmond 1,427 Posts
    No raers. But it's got a lot of new/Indie stuff for the hipster kids.
  • UnherdUnherd 1,880 Posts
    they make a fuss about...the whole music genome project and whatnot when it's clearly not the case is frustrating.

    You can click for more info on each pick, and it will tell you a bunch of reasons why they matched it up, so they are using that "genome" info and making connections. They're just doing it within the very limited library of music that they've tagged.

    And of course the matching is inexact science, as demonstrated by rootless's first post..
  • dstill808dstill808 704 Posts
    Ok, so right, here's an actual run right here, for the search term "Outkast"

    return: Outkast "Ms. Jackson"

    example criteria:

    club rap roots, southern rap roots, danceable beats, syncopated beats, rhythmically complex rapping, blazin' rappin'[/b], ambiguous lyrics, tight lyrics, use of tonal harmonies, a bumpin' kick sound[/b], extensive studio production, lyrics by a respected rap artist

    return: Gnarls Barkley "Crazy"

    example criteria:

    gospel influences, classical influences, electronica influences, beats made for dancing, straight drum beats, an emotional male vocal, clear pronunciation, the use of chordal patterning, use of tonal harmonies, melodic part writing, electric guitars, radio friendly stylings,

    return: The Roots "You Got Me"

    example criteria:

    hardcore rap attitude, club rap influences, exaggerated enunciation, east coast rap roots, r&b influences, heavy backbeat, meter complexity, danceable beats[/b](???), a poetic rap delivery, clean lyrics, lyrics that tell a story, the use of chordal patterning, use of tonal harmonies, inventive acoustic arrangements,a slow moving bass line, acoustic guitar pickin'

    Further returns: Jay Z- Big Pimpin'- Jay Z- Empire State of Mind, Outkast- Jazzy Belle, Dr. Dre- "Nuthin But A G Thank," 2Pac- "Ambitions As a Rider," Outkast- "Roses," Biz Markie- "Just A Friend," Biggie- "Big Poppa"
  • JimBeamJimBeam Seattle. 2,012 Posts
    danceable beats[/b](???)

    noodle dance weighs heavy on teh genome
  • dstill808dstill808 704 Posts
    I just feel like, why bother with all the "Flowin' chordal arpeggiation" crap if you're basically going to serve up a random sampling of rap super-hits?

    And again, part of my feelings are tempered by the fact that the presentation I saw was directed at label folks, pitching them on submitting their music (which we do) and they sold it as a great objective leveler, where any song had an equal chance of coming up if it met the criteria. Basically pushing it as a discovery tool, when there seems to be a heavy weight on not just established artists, but their bigger hits.
  • ladydayladyday 623 Posts
    On Friday I looked up Miriam Makeba and got... nothing. No such artist in the database.

  • The_Hook_UpThe_Hook_Up 8,182 Posts
    last fm is better...but I do like Pandora for the fact it will play some dollar binner track I wasnt aware of...one day after typing something like Leafhound into it, it played a track by Climax Blues Band that was a super heavy proto metal tune from a record Ive flipped past a 1000 times...but yeah it doesnt get deep by any stretch...
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