7 Music Recommendation Tools

Blogger does not like lists, ordered or otherwise

Music recommendation tools, or discovery tools, are not new, but as the web gets bigger, they grow in number if not in quality. I remember a little plugin 8 years ago that let me to "discover" Atom and His Package (though I forget the name of it) that worked on a simple Like it / Hate it modality. If you clicked the thumbs up button, you'd hear the song more often; thumbs down, and you wouldn't hear it as much (but it would still crop up every now and again). Today, the systems are more complex and more numerous. So we here at Duck & Cover Music have taken it upon ourselves to rate seven of them. Seven is a good number. A lucky number. In many cultures, a holy number. It's also all we could find.

We based our rating on four qualities:

1. Accessibility: How many plugins do you need to use it. The higher the number, the lower the rating. also, does it work on all browsers?
2. Accuracy: How close were their further recommendation to the original (does not always apply).
3. Availability: Can you run it from the web? Do you need to download a plug in? Does it give you both options? Can you embed to listen elsewhere? The more ways you can use it, the higher the score.
4. Appearance: Is it sexy, or is it a dog? Is it confusing, or can you get around intuitively?

So there they are, in order from worst to best:

7. Tune Explorer Score: 5/20

Pros

• Applies recommendation engine technology to your current play list
• Has a confusing approach, claiming to analyze "pitch values, pitch variance, fundamental strengths, and a host of other sonic qualities"

Cons

• It's for Mac only
• Doesn't really recommend new music, rather it's just a new way to organize stuff you already have

Accessibility: 1
Accuracy: N/A
Availability: 1
Appearance: 3

Verdict: more a play list than a discovery tool

6. The Filter Score: 6/20

Pros

• Peter Gabrial backs it . . . I guess that's a pro
• Allows you to build play lists from music on your computer, iPod or mobile (Nokia)

Cons
• Website has some mystery meat navigation makes moving through the site clunky
• Website is also a bit screamy (Try now! Get this now!)
• requires a download
• Had a horrible time getting it to properly install
• Is Peter Gabriel still relevant?

Accessibility: 2
Accuracy: 1
Availability: 1
Appearance: 2

Verdict: Just because Peter Gabriel says So, doesn't mean you should have a Passion for it.

5. SeeqPod Score: 12/20

Pros
• Clean interface
• Allows you to embed tracks as well as play lists (which we implemented briefly here at D&C)
• Lets you browse video, too, but that's just extra credit

Cons

• Unreliable, but that comes with the territory
• Can't trust play lists to last long--again, comes with the territory
• Uses Flash, which makes it a bit slow on slower connection speeds

Accessibility: 3
Accuracy: 3
Availability: 4
Appearance: 3

Verdict: Good, but clunky. Better for researching what a particular band sounds like.

4. Pandora Score: 11/20

Pros
• As one of the first, it gets to set the standard
• Gathers data based on whether you like or dislike a song. remembers you, so to speak.
• Generates some really cool visualizations
• Easy, intuitive interface

Cons

• not available outside of the US. Major suck
• only available as a download

Accessibility: 2
Accuracy: 2
Availability: 2
Appearance: 5

Verdict: Solid plugin. Wish there was a web version. Also wish it existed outside the US.

3. iLike Score: 14/20

Pros

• Cool iTunes sidebar
• Takes you through laborious process to find artists you like, each one producing more 'iLikes'. Find myself avoiding even touching my mouse to the photos of bands I despise, lest I am tainted by their awfulness. Interested to see what happens when I like "Tchaikovsky" as well as "Tom Waits." I went through the whole list, by the way.
• Musicians can submit their own songs.
• Showing you live music nearby is cool, but they need to expand their database to include overseas users.
• Can link it with Bebo, Hi5 (do people still use this?), and Facebook.
• Gets around the upload issue by just linking to your iTunes, although I don't know how well this works.

Cons
• None of my contacts--over 500 in gmail alone--are on iLIke (that may be my own problem, though).
• Takes you through laborious process to find artists you like, etc., etc.
• iLike doesn't know what you play unless you download the iTunes sidebar

Accessibility: 4
Accuracy: 4
Availability: 3
Appearance: 3

Verdict: iTunes meets Facebook (there's even a Facebook app)

2. Last.fm 18/20

Pros

• Was the first (to the best of my knowledge) to use the Scrobbling method. Takes what you listen to, and finds matches based on metadata. If it's on the web, it can be scrobbled.
• Able to just listen based on whether it's similar to one artist. Good because sometimes you don't want to trash your Les Savy Fav, but you want a similar sound.
• Ability to embed (we like that here at D&C).
• NYT did a really cool visualization of the friend's network

Cons

• Recommendations take time, and come based on what you listen to and what neighbors think you will like . . . unless you just listen to the radio, which is good
• Allows you to favorite a song, but not to create a play list. WTF?
• Not much progression into different styles as you listened
• Only plays one track that is "like" the band you've chosen, always a caveat when deciding whether to buy a band's album
• "Buy this album" just links to Amazon.com--boooorrrrring. Would be better if you could choose from whom you were downloading

Accessibility: 4
Accuracy: 5
Availability: 5
Appearance: 4

Verdict: Robust, versatile, still one of the best.

1. Songza Score: 18/20

Pros

• It's fast
• It's simple
• No really--it's very, very fast
• No "friends" or "neighbors"; just music that you want to listen to
• Don't need to download any extra software, like Flash, to listen to it thus making it the most accessible of all

Cons
• Due to simplicity, it lacks depth.

Accessibility: 5
Accuracy: 4
Availability: 4
Appearance: 5

Verdict: Wins on simplicity and accessibility

Still, there are other ways to find new music on the web. We didn't include Mog, Imeem (which mostly sucks), or any of the other music communities. And while they're not "discovery tools" per se, these communities are still fantastic ways to find new music. So go forth and listen.