Your personal music search space.
Augment your understanding of music.
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YMUSIC SEARCH ENGINE
Since antiquity, human beings have been conscious of themselves and wanted to fix knowledge to ensure that future generations can also benefit from it. For its part, musical knowledge was first kept on stones: precursors to sheet music include antique cuneiform tablets and medieval manuscripts. Music printing appeared during the 15th century. Today, sheet music can be read and even played on a computer screen. As the ways to keep music changed, the ways to retrieve it changed through time. Besides libraries, musical knowledge can now be acquired on the internet. What is musical knowledge? How can music listeners increase their musical knowledge? What can a music search engine bring to the modern music listener? Know more about these topics by reading the following essays.
MUSIC, KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION AND SEARCH ENGINE TECHNOLOGY
To acquire new musical knowledge, try YMusic. YMusic is a prototype of a music search engine which relies on a new music theory. It is designed for all music listeners who are searching for music that is new for them and who are trying to develop their knowledge, be they casual listeners or not.
To extend your musical knowledge, try YMusic. YMusic is a prototype of a music search engine which relies on a new music theory; it is designed for all music listeners who are searching for music that is new for them and who are trying to develop their knowledge, be they casual listeners or not.
A MUSIC SEARCH ENGINE TO CHALLENGE AND BROADEN THE TASTES OF INDIVIDUAL MUSIC LISTENERS
When music listeners use the YMusic search engine, a prototype analyzing music relying on a new music theory and thus musical criteria, their queries help the search engine to provide them with quality results, in terms of individuality: search after search, they can get results that align with their musical interests. And because music listeners receive more relevant suggestions, the quality of decisions that they make, when they are facing an overwhelming amount of music, can become better. Because YMusic depends on a music theory, it provides objective results, and that is one of its strong points, because objectivity matters, especially when music listeners do not know exactly what they are looking for, and, most of the time, when they want to discover new music, they do not. Sometimes, music listeners do not even want to discover something new. They can take the rational decision to listen to some piece of music that is new for them, while some irrational little voice in them will incite them to type on their keyboard the name of their favorite popular musician.
As a music search engine has nothing to do with a social media profile, music listeners who want to use it do not have to search for music just to share it quickly, in order to show that they follow the trends or that they know everything. They do not have to show off and pretend they have smart tastes. They have, as tastes are a question of individual judgement. Thus, when listeners want to use a music search engine, they acquire musical information and knowledge for themselves only. They can integrate their search results into their own reflection on music, whatever their level of interest is. At the end of the day, these music listeners retain the results they really want and like. The search engine is here to present high-quality results, not to ultimately judge the musical tastes of individual listeners. Individual and even intimate: while putting relevant music into their ears, the YMusic search engine keeps music listeners’ choices private.
There is no standard YMusic finding and, tailoring results to meet music listeners’ personal tastes, YMusic also wants to broaden and challenge their points of view on music, helping them to perceive the specific added value contained in each piece of music, whether the listener likes it or not, liking a result or not being the listener’s decision only. Now that the prototype is launched, it will primarily be built for the way music listeners are engaging with the platform. That is why music listeners who test YMusic are strongly encouraged to give their feedback to the YMusic team. The results that YMusic provides are based on the characteristics of music itself and so YMusic is not a usual recommendation system, and the experience of music listeners who use it depends on their listening choices as well as on the music theory which supports the search engine.
A MUSIC SEARCH ENGINE SO THAT MUSIC LISTENERS CAN AVOID JUST BEING PASSIVE CONSUMERS
When users are doing a web search on a general search engine, results partly depend on their previous searches even if, at scale, it is actually uneasy to establish and keep users’ profiles. Furthermore, some people say that this type of personalized search is somehow biased and that it would keep users in a partial cognitive sphere. However, users often love selective exposure: there is a natural tendency amongst human beings to avoid contradictory information and to search instead for data which reinforce their existing views. People retain only the aspects of information they want to retain and their selections depend on their beliefs, perspectives, decisions and attitudes: in one word, on their life background. That is why learning habits are difficult to change and, in the different fields of knowledge, most people have a tendency to explore the same aspects again and again. As an aside, that is why the usual recommendations made by recommender systems more or less work.
Remarks that are valuable for general search engines are also valid for the YMusic search engine, a prototype designed to help music listeners to find more music they like without being forced to follow popular trends. So, the question is: is it possible for an algorithm or an ensemble of algorithms to enhance the natural curiosity of music listeners and, once the novelty of the application has worn off, to encourage them to persevere in their elementary analysis of music? And the answer is: yes, of course! The more attractive a source of information and knowledge is, the more positive the reactions of users are, and they want both to deepen the knowledge they already have and to open their mind to novelty. That is why the music listener interested in knowledge acquisition will be interested in testing the YMusic search engine, whose design relies on a new music theory that is helpful to understand music better.
Music audiences are not passive targets for those in the mass media who may want to reinforce their previous habits and beliefs. At least, most music listeners want to discover new music, and the fact that music listening is now primarily free of charge helps them to do so. Searching for new music, choosing YMusic, listeners cannot be trapped by the side effects of selective exposure that are produced by material published in the media and also by social sharing. Music listeners are not passive consumers anymore. Actually, in the field of music as in any domain, many sources can influence listeners’ choices: their own education and schooling, their health, their lifestyle, the media and leaders they follow, etc. All of these elements express values and are linked both to listeners’ skills and network. They are good in themselves, but the more autonomous music listeners are, the more control they get over their music listening experience. Using YMusic, they will be able to master their music search, going beyond the personalization stage to know more about their individual listening taste.
To gain new musical knowledge, try YMusic. YMusic is a prototype of a music search engine which relies on a new music theory; it is designed for all music listeners who are searching for music that is new for them and who are trying to develop their knowledge, be they casual listeners or not.
A MUSIC SEARCH ENGINE TO TRAIN AND FORM OPINIONS ABOUT PERSONAL MUSICAL PREFERENCES
Is it possible for ordinary music listeners to effortlessly extract musical knowledge from their listening experience if they use a music search engine? Can they satisfy their curiosity? Yes. The empathy of music listeners for music combined with easy tools to analyze music can make them even more curious. Listening more and more to music, listeners can only deepen their understanding of musical phenomena. In fact, the algorithm of the YMusic search engine, for instance, manages thousands and thousands of musical data contained in the music titles included in its database. And it gives music listeners more of what they request with each click. Continuously evolving, YMusic, which is based on a new music theory, wants to adequately represent the multiple aspects of musical information in order to help music listeners to transform it into knowledge.
As YMusic analyzes music across genres, time and location, it does not find music exactly like an ordinary music recommendation system. Furthermore, YMusic is not a recommender system as it does not claim to tell users what they will like: results are more based on musical similarity and listeners themselves decide what they like or dislike. They will not see that message: ‘You liked that item, you will like this one’. They hear: ‘You listened to that item, you will receive one that is musically similar. Decide if you like it or not'.
The music listener’s individual judgement, in the framework of human computer interaction, is not superfluous. And as the target of a music search engine is not to highlight the last trends of the music industry but to open the musical mind of the listener, forming opinions about their musical preferences is, for this listener, good training. That training comes from experience: title after title, the mind is questioned by one musical aspect or another and, using the musical analysis tools provided by YMusic, music listeners can learn to determine themselves what music they really love. If, sometimes, the result provided by the music search engine makes them uncomfortable, it is temporary: it just signifies the gap between the point at which the musical information is provided by the search engine and the moment when music listeners have taken the information into account and have integrated it to their own musical memories and their life experience.
Of course, YMusic’s algorithm reduces the noise made by musical information that is not relevant for the listener. However it is not an automatic distributor that provides a product known in advance, even by the user. The music search engine is a useful tool for musical knowledge acquisition as well as for meditation on the virtues and the qualities of each piece of music. Learning to appreciate music without being linked by the judgement of a third party, the music listener becomes more and more autonomous during the search process.
To broaden your musical knowledge, try YMusic. YMusic is a prototype of a music search engine which relies on a new music theory and it is designed for all music listeners who are searching for music that is new for them.
A MUSIC SEARCH ENGINE TO INTERACT WITH THE TOPIC OF MUSIC WITH MORE INSIGHT
There are four types of luck: blind luck, exploratory motion (which is the motion of moving around in order to be productive), sagacity (that can be defined as chance that is favoring prepared minds, even if it is not the usual meaning) and, finally, serendipity. Serendipity can be defined as the combination of chance and creativity, as a pleasant surprise. Chance is something that cannot be predicted, expected or known. Creativity is the ability to make something new and meaningful in the world. So, serendipity is the capacity to create something meaningful from the emerging unknown. How can it happen and where? In an environment created by human beings, where unplanned events are more likely to happen. Such an environment is out of the daily routine and generally encourages people and various elements or topics to interact.
In the field of music research, can a search engine enhance serendipity? Serendipity, in context, is not always easy to define. However a music search engine is without any doubt a tool that invites music listeners to leave their day-to-day routine in order to interact with the topic of music, in various ways. Indeed it is to create such conditions that the YMusic search engine, a prototype relying on a new music theory, is designed. In fact, now and then, it is inevitable, music discovery is made by chance. But when a music search engine based on musical criteria supports serendipity by offering more control to music listeners, they can acquire a real musical knowledge and find out much more about their tastes. Listening to pieces of music via the search engine, listeners can, gradually, spend less time searching for new music.
As the technologies that learners use to play with partly define them, they select them carefully. In the case of a search engine, their expectations concern the relevance of the results. How can they judge? In the case of YMusic, one element to take into account is the music theory on which the search engine is based. In fact, YMusic is not a music archive that classifies music with cultural tags. Each piece of music analyzed by the search engine is studied in accordance with specific musical criteria coming from the associated music theory. The music theory being the product of careful work, the search engine does not provide random results to listeners: these results are the fruit of calculations. At the same time, the discovery of new music can satisfy listeners’ curiosity and the result is that they can become more engaged with more and more styles of music, learning more and more each time they use the search engine. Thanks to the YMusic search engine, all music listeners, even when they are not musicians or music researchers, can, at least at an elementary level, become music thinkers and interact directly with music without any value judgment or opinion expressed by a third party.
To extend your musical knowledge, try YMusic. YMusic is a prototype of a music search engine which relies on a new music theory and it is designed for all music listeners who are searching for music that is new for them.
A MUSIC SEARCH ENGINE TO INCREASE THE EFFECTS OF SERENDIPITY IN THE CONTEXT OF MUSIC LISTENING?
The internet changed the way users collect and process information in all domains and transform it into knowledge. Now do they remember the information they gather online more or less easily than the equivalent material found in a printed book? Do they learn more or less? It is not always easy to measure. The level of learners’ engagement with information is not especially higher online. Yet it is now unquestionable that they learn differently.
When it comes to musical knowledge acquisition, technology can help listeners to reach more music they do not know yet. Online music services offer the possibility to get easy access to numerous pieces of music, however their sorting is hardly customized. Yet listeners need more than personalization, they want to distinguish in a clear way what they really love and be guided in the discovery of their personal music tastes. Happily, the YMusic search engine, currently a prototype, is designed to reach such a target.
Based on a new music theory, YMusic contains thousands of musical pieces in all styles, and listeners, searching for a piece, get musical information related to that piece. Knowing more about music, they thus get the possibility to determine more easily what they prefer and, in a manner of speaking, to determine their musical identity and, more generally, enhance their listening experience. Offering the possibility to experience music independently of cultural criteria like age or gender, YMusic helps listeners to create their own musical identity. Often, music listeners feel lucky: they find a nice piece of music more or less randomly. But when they listen to the next piece suggested by the online music service they use, be it performed by the same musician or by someone else, they feel disappointed most of the time. What happened? Did the voice change? Was the introduction too slow or too fast?
Actually, in the field of music recommendation as in any field, luck is not so easy to quantify and scale. When it comes to music searches and music recommendation, which are done through software engineering, luck is something that music software engineers want to implement. How? They learn how they can be systematically engaged with the unknown. So, they deal with luck and especially with serendipity, which is a specific type of luck. Serendipity is a kind of luck that human action can affect. The strange word of serendipity comes from a fairy tale involving a princess making discoveries of things she is not searching for, through insight and by accident. Serendipity is thus a form of happy discovery. It is more precisely defined as the art of unsought finding. As serendipity is searching for a thing and finding another, the concept is a little tricky. That is why the YMusic search engine depends on a new music theory itself based on objective musical criteria, while of course taking the reactions of music listeners into account when it is applied.
A MUSIC SEARCH ENGINE TO INCREASE THE EFFECTS OF SERENDIPITY IN THE CONTEXT OF MUSIC LISTENING?