The Future of Music Genres Is Here
blog.echonest.com
The Future of Music Genres Is Here
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Re: The Future of Music Genres Is Here
#2It seems like tags might be a better solution to classifying music than over-broad categories like "rock".
Making genres more specific and granular just makes categorization more confusing and contentious. But use of multiple tags to categorize a song could allow different people to simultaneously apply the labels they prefer.
Or perhaps a better solution would be "x sounds like y, z, etc."
Re: The Future of Music Genres Is Here
#3Looks interesting. Echonest have done some amazing stuff in the past.
Can anyone find a flat list of all the genres?
Re: The Future of Music Genres Is Here
#4[deleted]
Re: The Future of Music Genres Is Here
#5Looks interesting. Echonest have done some amazing stuff in the past. Can anyone find a flat list of all the genres?
Re: The Future of Music Genres Is Here
#6It seems like tags might be a better solution to classifying music than over-broad categories like "rock". Making genres more specific and granular just makes categorization more confusing and contentious. But use of multiple tags to categorize a song could allow different people to simultaneously apply the labels they prefer. Or perhaps a better solution would be "x sounds like y, z, etc."
These genres come from people talking about music using whatever organic / natural words they use to describe music. We've done the work to map those into single-term "genres," as it's been shown many listeners appreciate the flat categorization. There are similarities between genres in the API, so you can quickly see which genres sound like others.
Re: The Future of Music Genres Is Here
#7Ah, genres.
In the 90's, I was into Breakbeat Hardcore and then later Jungle, which transformed into Drum & Bass, which was subdivided over time into Ragga, Neurofunk, Tech Step, Hard Step, Jump-Up, Clown Step, Liquid Funk, Ambient Drum & Bass, Drumstep and so on.
Of course, what I understand under "Drum & Bass" is very different from a 18 year-old teenager who thinks late-period Pendulum is the greatest thing on earth.
Now, during the early 00's a lot of the old-schoolers were annoyed with the direction drum and bass took. The tracks became cheesier and cheesier, and a lot of the old vibe was gone.
They turned to Garage, Grime and Breaks and found a fertile playing ground in the fledgling Dubstep scene. Lo' and behold, there it was, the fat dubby bass of their youth.
Alas, again, an 18-year old teenager today has a very different picture of "Dubstep" compared to that of the people who originated the sound. No more dub, a lot of cheese. Somewhat similar to the entire drum and bass story. The genre has been appropriated by the masses.
And well, the circle goes on and on. The same thing applies to older genres such as "Electro", which in the 80's meant something entirely different from what it is now.
So in a sense, how useful are genres really?
Re: The Future of Music Genres Is Here
#8Ah, genres. In the 90's, I was into Breakbeat Hardcore and then later Jungle, which transformed into Drum & Bass, which was subdivided over time into Ragga, Neurofunk, Tech Step, Hard Step, Jump-Up, Clown Step, Liquid Funk, Ambient Drum & Bass, Drumstep and so on. Of course, what I understand under "Drum & Bass" is very different from a 18 year-old teenager who thinks late-period Pendulum is the greatest thing on ear…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_capital
T'was ever thus.
Don't forget that acid/tekno/jungle was itself stepping on other peoples' shoes, namely the UKs established dancehall/ragga soundsystems:
http://www.uncarved.org/blog/2004/06/4/17/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-o_N9rCujM
EDIT: jungle was also briefly referred to as "future ragga"! imagine how many people that must have pissed off, even in '92:
http://www.djhistory.com/features/ragga-techno
That article reads exactly like one written today about dubstep or whatever, except with less pessimism. Which is understandable I guess, it must have been hard to be miserable writing about hardcore rave music in 1992.
Re: The Future of Music Genres Is Here
#9also, code examples: http://musicmachinery.com/2014/01/16/new-genre-apis/
Re: The Future of Music Genres Is Here
#10It seems like tags might be a better solution to classifying music than over-broad categories like "rock". Making genres more specific and granular just makes categorization more confusing and contentious. But use of multiple tags to categorize a song could allow different people to simultaneously apply the labels they prefer. Or perhaps a better solution would be "x sounds like y, z, etc."
These genres come from people talking about music using whatever organic / natural words they use to describe music. We've done the work to map those into single-term "genres," as it's been shown many listeners appreciate the flat categorization. There are similarities between genres in the API, so you can quickly see which genres sound like others.
it's been shown many listeners appreciate the flat categorization
Huh, that's interesting. Did you discover that with internal analytics or a survey, or an outside source?
If it's something internal, you could blog about your discovery. It would make an interesting read for us music nerds.