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Human Editors Are Returning To Music

06/06/2013

The music-software industry is starting to realize that the greatest power of “discovery” isn’t robots or algorithms, (...)
The music-software industry is starting to realize that the greatest power of “discovery” isn’t robots or algorithms, but good old-fashioned recommendations from friends (or at least, real human beings). Is there a place for automated discovery? We only need to look at what’s happening in the the wider world of media publishing to find out. Looking back, it seems Pandora may have been the tipping point, the proof of concept that swayed people and subliminally convinced them that curation could be done by robots and algorithms just as well as it could be by humans. The service did surprisingly well at picking tracks similar to what you suggested it start with, without being too predictable. Credited with taking more and more jobs, it seemed inevitable that machines would also pick our music, TV, movies, and reading content on their own. A clever algorithm coded to be fluid and ever evolving software should be the best recommendation solution, right? The current trends, however, would suggest a constant human element present is needed in making media discoverable across all types of consumer content. The biggest store on the planet, iTunes, uses both automated means and human power to suggest new content to users. In the form of "Genius," the store provides suggestions based on your past listening habits in addition to other factors. While the results are fine, usually recommending things people do, or would, like, it doesn’t provide the same wow factor as a human emotionally involved can. The same feeling you get from a person saying “I’ve enjoyed this music, I think you will too.” Possibly the reason Genius results are halfway down the page and often overlooked. The highlighted and featured albums in the genre sections--which are handpicked by Apple employees--do often give that wow factor, even breaking notable artist The Boxer Rebellion based on the iTunes feature.Read Full Story    
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