Personalization and Recommendation Services: Music Discovery 2.0

By Will Morgan

Just in the last several years, user-generated content, as a concept, has enormously altered the creation, distribution and consumption of media today. The ease with which professional video artists and novice guitar players alike can generate and post content to YouTube or MySpace has brought about a wave of primary and secondary usage trends. For instance, Photobucket, as a free, streamlined sharing service, has spurred an increase in image hosting (the primary trend), which in turn has propelled the adoption of digital cameras, camera-enabled cell phones and so on (the secondary trend). An argument could most likely be made for the reverse scenario — that the decreasing price of digital cameras has brought with it a greater demand for services that allow for quick picture distribution. The same goes for the rampant popularity of MySpace and the growing number of musicians engaging in home recording. Either way, the user-generated content trend supports the very obvious supply and demand model of which iTunes and the iPod are the most obvious indicators.

So as both the amount of content and the number of devices through which we can absorb it rise, there must inherently be a tertiary usage trend to help active consumers manage this influx and find the type of niche media they desire. In other words, how do we decide what we do want to consume, and where do we get it? Traditionally, we have looked to friends and like-minded resources, such as our favorite bands. Michael Papish, CEO for MediaUnbound, Inc.

(www.mediaunbound.com), refers to these as “human-generated recommendation systems.” Massachusetts-based MediaUnbound is a recommendation service backend provider, delivering music discovery services for digital download powerhouses like Napster, MTV’s URGE and HMV. The company serves as an excellent example of the very organized blurring that is occurring between recommendations offered by man and machine. Now, as media consumers rely more on online distribution services, so too do they need — for lack of a better expression — ‘online friends’ to point them in the right direction. This is what MediaUnbound does, utilizing a process that is one-part algorithm and one-part music fan.

Just as independent musicians have succeeded in reaching new fans through primary and secondary trends — the MySpaces and iPods of the world — so too can they take advantage of this latest trend, online recommendation and personalization services.

MAN AND MACHINE
The advent of the internet has not invalidated the effectiveness of personal, human-generated recommendations. Rather, it has merely increased the speed with which musical tastes can be calculated and communicated to others. Prior to the internet, geography, social circles, and the like restricted recommendations. Musicians were subject to much the same constraints. But then, notes Papish, “Along comes the internet, and you can aggregate without having to worry about geography.” Now not only can individual listeners share their preferences and be linked across the globe simply based on their musical choices, but artists can also receive real-time data about who within these recommendation services is listening to their music.

“Recommendation technologies can provide you with a better understanding of your audience,” says Gabriel Aldamiz-echevarria, VP of Communications for recommendation service MyStrands (www.mystrands.com). “MyStrands tells you the number of people listening to your music and how that number evolves. Are you becoming more popular? What songs do people listen to? What other music do your listeners listen to?”

Recommendation services are particularly relevant given that listeners are beginning to purchase music track by track, rather than album by album. Papish references Amazon as a long-time proponent of recommendations, which are based purely on what products the user has bought previously. But given the availability of niche content online today, users might not be willing to purchase a full album based on an automatically generated recommendation and Amazon’s 30-second song samples. MediaUnbound, on the other hand, employs both music analysts and computing processes to achieve a much more detailed recommendation that can be matched to the increasingly selective preferences of active listeners.

BRIDGING THE GAP
The beauty of recommendation and personalization services is that they aid both ends of the media spectrum — the content generators and consumers. Independent artists can upload their content for free and fans can browse music for free; eventually, the two will be introduced to one another thanks to a system that learns what consumers like and want. It is a mutualistic relationship in which both sides benefit: the fans discover new music and the musicians cultivate their fanbase. Aldamiz-echevarria characterizes the advantage simply: “These engines recommend your music to those who are most likely to love it.

Therefore, it makes total sense to have a presence in these sites — targeted, personalized.” By utilizing recommendation services, independent artists are opening themselves up to a remarkably large portion of the active listening population. According to eMusic’s VP of Product Development, Deirdre Stone, “In a recent customer survey, we found that 50 percent of eMusic subscribers said they used the Choicestream-powered ‘New on eMusic’ feature to find albums to download.”

As Stone explains, “eMusic works with Choicestream to provide a variety of personalized recommendations for our customers, including eMusic features such as Playlists, Top Fans, the eMusic Dozen, Neighbors and Your New Arrivals. Some of these recommendations are based on the customer’s download history and their ratings of other music.” The 50 percent to whom Stone refers are fans who are not only regularly consuming independent content, but are also eager to find and “break” undiscovered artists by following up on recommendations.

The independent music community thrives on this thrill of discovery, and as such, these fans make up a powerful target market for any artist or outfit looking to reach a certain set of listeners. Personalization and recommendation services are truly DIY amalgamations. They incorporate elements of social networking, aid in decreasing the degrees of fan-artist separation, are completely free to use and have streamlined, user-driven frameworks. Artists simply need to advertise their presence within these services well enough to set the chains in motion.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The first task independent artists should undertake is to identify services that accept music submissions. Last.fm and Pandora are perhaps the best-known recommendation services, but artists would be wise to do additional research into independently minded offerings. MyStrands is one such example. Their service offers a free desktop application that analyzes a user’s music collection and then generates recommendations, in addition to connecting like-minded listeners to one another across MyStrands.com. Community is paramount on MyStrands, which enables users to tag music, create shareable playlists and even throw virtual parties — all of which increase the reach of an artist’s music.

And MyStrands has wisely entered into the mobile market as well, offering music discovery services through cell phones. Of particular interest is their specific service devoted to independent artists. As Aldamiz-echevarria explains, independent artists can upload their music free of charge to MyStrands.com, at which point “they get into the recommendation circuit, in our personalized radio, website, plug-ins, and mobile player.” He is sure to point out that “music from independent artists gets the same treatment as other music. We also have other promotion vehicles to increase the visibility of our artists on the website and mobile website.” Recommendation services go one step further than standard social networking sites by not only offering cost-efficient distribution, but also seeking out each artist’s target audience.

Last.fm’s recommendation service operates similarly to that of Amazon, and offers data tracking services for artists. It also functions as a downloadable application that follows the user’s listening trends. In order to upload music to their radio streams, artists must first register on the site. They then can manage their presence through the Artists and Labels Interface.

Pandora functions differently, in that it is basically an online radio station driven by the company’s Music Genome Project, a years-in-the-making categorization of various musical characteristics. A user’s song choice is analyzed for these characteristics, and recommendations are made based on songs that have similar qualities. Pandora’s senior music analysts determine these characteristics, and artists who submit music will first have to have their music approved by these analysts. To submit, artists must send a CD with brief biographical information and a filled-out music submission agreement form to 360 22nd Street, Suite 440, Oakland, CA 94612.

A more obscure — but still equally popular and effective form of distribution — would be to post your own videos and podcasts to Digg.com. In order to fully reap the benefits of this site, though, bands need to be slightly more proactive in cultivating their content through the service and directing fans to “Digg” it as much as possible — a task that falls under the personalization category.

PERSONALIZATION
Personalization, while certainly entwined with recommendations, plays off of the individual preference trend (think of internet radio) and is more about simply displaying your true colors. Specifically, it describes who you are based on the type of media you consume. As Nick Hornby writes in High Fidelity, it’s not about who you are, but rather what you like, that shapes others’ impressions of you. And given that fans are always eager to learn more about their favorite artists, independent musicians can benefit from using these services themselves to provide their supporters with a glimpse into their own tastes. Bands, if they wish to portray a certain identity or image to their fanbase, can do so easily through personalization services.

Likewise, artists should encourage their fans to take part in these services.
As mentioned above, Digg.com serves as a very popular focal point for all buzz items on the web, whether they be news stories, podcasts, pictures or videos. As such, bands can generate immense brand awareness through the site by continually seeding it with their own content. Users (or better yet, fans) can then show their support for the piece of content, which sends it up the chain towards the site’s homepage.

Many mainstream publications offer options for Digging stories, so artists who receive press through them should be sure to take advantage of this feature. Likewise, artists should make fans aware of their content on Digg through blogging, newsletters, etc. to ensure that it receives a noticeable amount of support on the site. Consider also that Digg is well-known for being controlled by a small population of very active users, so artists should work to post engaging content frequently and become Digg friends with these tastemakers. Ultimately, you will be able to benefit from the site’s large amount of users demonstrating their personal preference for your content.

Social bookmarking site del.icio.us offers many similar features as Digg, such as allowing artists to upload mp3s and podcasts for which the site will create an RSS feed. del.icio.us also boasts a “Wishlists” function, which is a shareable list of a user’s favorite websites that others can browse. This function presents artists and their fans with yet another avenue for exposing a large volume of media consumers to great independent music, simply by sharing personal tastes. And given the communal nature of each of these sites, artists are further benefiting from the social networking trend.

Soundflavor (www.soundflavor.com), an iTunes playlist generator and recommendation service, builds off of this trend. Working in much the same way as Last.fm, Soundflavor offers a downloadable DJ application that creates playlists from the user’s iTunes collection. It is the service’s PlayStrips function, however, that has the most appeal in the personalization realm, as it enables users to post a preview of their playlists as a widget on MySpace, Yahoo 360, Friendster, Xanga, Tagged, Piczo, Frappr, and their blogs.

Through the widget, fans and artists alike can display their musical tastes for the internet community to browse and research. (As an aside for those artists distributed through IODA, Soundflavor recently signed an agreement to give away promotional songs to all its users based on their listening preferences).
Eventful (www.eventful.com), an event listing service, features the Eventful Demand function, an excellent method for fans to very clearly demonstrate their support for their favorite artists. The widget tracks the number of fans, based on geography, who demand that a certain artist perform in their city. Artists can place the widget on their MySpace page to encourage competition amongst fans, generate buzz for their tour and even plan which cities to hit.

SHOWING PROMISE
The fact that our primary and secondary usage trends have spawned this tertiary trend, as both Papish and Aldamiz-echevarria are quick to identify, is a very good sign of things to come for the music industry. “All the music industry is doom and gloom,” notes Papish. “But if you look at it, people are listening to more music than they ever did. Non-mainstream music is thriving.” Aldamiz-echevarria echoes Papish’s statement, saying “As we have easier access to music, we will request more diversity, more personalization.” The salient point here is that the scale of independent content available today is ushering in new technologies intended to introduce listeners to quality music.

The future is indeed bright, particularly for DIY-minded artists, thanks in large part to cost-efficient and easy-to-use recommendation and personalization services. “I see recommendation technologies playing a critical role in the future, making it easier and easier for fans and artists to get together,” concludes Aldamiz-echevarria. Independent artists should be eager to embrace those services that help bring them closer to their admirers, and if Aldamiz-echevarria’s prediction rings true, recommendation and personalization will be paramount.