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 broaden your musical knowledge, try YMusic. YMusic is a prototype of amusic 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 DEVELOP A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF MUSIC
Search engines disrupt daily routines and, as they encourage better circulation of knowledge, they have a positive influence. In terms of search behavior, two characteristics of users must be taken into account: their knowledge in the field they want to explore and their ability to retrieve information. Both have their importance, as well as the algorithms that power search engines: these algorithms are, of course, specific products created by particular engineers in their specialized field. It is about developing the algorithms in order to get more control over the display of results.
Whatever their type, search engines are complex software constructions, and when users try to interact with them, search engines have to identify their research question. These questions are constructions too, constructions of searches as solely services of a commercial nature. Commercial, but also ethical and moral: all search engine creators have to make choices in order to sort results. For instance, the YMusic search engine, currently under prototyping, is based on a new music theory and that music theory, of course, is not neutral: it intends to present the true nature of music and explain its different facets, yet it has been discovered by a human mind with a specific point of view. By the way, this is the reason why music listeners who test YMusic are invited to give their feedback. In fact, it is very interesting to hear more about their objectives and their expectations in order to best meet them.
The good news about the debate between objectivity and subjectivity is that in YMusic, there will be no problem related to the intrinsic honesty of the information which is presented. It is universal: in fact, YMusic’s database, which, at the moment, contains thousands of music titles, includes music from all around the world. Depending on their initial interests, individual listeners can make queries and will receive results that are relevant to their ears. Surprise goes hand in hand with music discovery, not cultural quarrel. And a music search engine is here to help music listeners to be more aware of the nature of music during their listening time. In one word, the tool is made to empower them. It is evolving, taking music listeners’ behaviors and feedback into account.
YMusic has a general target, which is to help all music listeners to understand music better. Also, listening after listening, listeners can understand better their own musical tastes and get more and more music they really like, because, with the help of the search engine, they become used to naming the main facets of music and find pieces of music which contain them. Incorporating that music search tool in their daily life, they can exploit its potential and enhance their music listening experience. What is, musically speaking, knowledge, beyond emotions and feelings? To discover it is a simple matter of will and time.
A MEANING-DRIVEN MUSIC SEARCH ENGINE TO MEET MUSIC LISTENER'S EXPECTATIONS
Music listeners do not want to find music, they can find music everywhere and they are even overwhelmed. They want to find better music, and better music, for all individual music listeners, is music that suits their taste. That is why the core technology of the YMusic search engine, now launched as a prototype and based on a new music theory, offers musical features that help listeners to find what they may like more easily. Actually, YMusic's database contains thousands of music titles and it is ready to scale up. Furthermore, the different elements of the search engine work well together in order to sort results when music listeners introduce their queries. Anyhow all music listeners testing YMusic are invited to provide feedback concerning its use. YMusic has specific musical capabilities and progress is being made in order to improve its performance.
Search engines do not have any deduction capability: they cannot synthesize their answers to users’ queries, and they do not display the details of their reasoning. Also, they do not know anything about world knowledge, that type of knowledge acquired by human beings through perception and experience. That is the reason why YMusic relies on a music theory designed by humans and uses it in order to provide listeners who search for specific music with results in relation to the real nature of music. And the best thing for listeners is to make some trial queries in order to discover YMusic’s potential. Let us notice that, in terms of search results, if relevance is a minimum, relevance is a notion that is actually hard to define and partly subjective. In a search engine, relevance comes down to the algorithm, the database and the music theory which supports YMusic. It also relates to the expectations and objectives of listeners, musical ones and more generally personal ones.
During a web search, query formulation is all about finding the right scope. It is not easy with keywords on general search engines and that is why query reformulations are numerous. Concerning music, the situation is similar. For example, YMusic helps music listeners to find new music that they find really likeable, yet the search process is actually a succession of operations during which listeners can experience how music really functions at the musical level, independently of any cultural criteria like names of music composers or performers. It is during these moments, between successive searches, that listeners can really interact with music and not only during their listening time. Search engines being essential components of the internet, it is time for the musical field to have one in order to provide some compass to users that are now navigating an ocean of musical information. Search engines are the librarians of the world wide web and as such, they must organize and present the musical information in a way that is meaningful for music listeners. And as the internet is now shaping human life, a music search engine can help numerous music listeners as well as music professionals to enrich the experience they have in the field.
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 MEET MUSIC LISTENERS’ INTENTS AT THE MUSICAL LEVEL
For decades, general search engines have been appreciated by users, who often paint a rosy picture of their search experiments: in fact, studies show that most of them trust search engines. However, even if users can make a distinction between searches that are important for them and those which are trivial, they can spend a lot of time doing unimportant searches. Furthermore, when they are doing searches that they consider as important, they do not systematically find what they want, whatever the domain in which they want to acquire new knowledge is.
It is to overcome this obstacle that, in the field of music, the YMusic search engine, launched as a prototype and based on a new music theory, is currently being designed. But why? Aren’t music streaming services enough? An online music service is not only about users and content. Of course, it is about providing all kinds of audiences with musical objects so that they can make memorable music listening experiences, but actually both users and content are in a context made of elements like culture and technology. That is why creating the best matches between content and users is a delicate and sensitive exercise. Music streaming services meet numerous constraints. They distribute vast quantities of music to large amounts of users yet they do it via elementary metadata like age, gender or location, criteria which do not say anything about music listeners’ individual tastes, musically speaking. And music listeners themselves do not always know exactly what style of music they want to listen to. Sometimes, and it is the most straightforward case, they know exactly which musician or title they are searching for, and no recommendation, even cultural, is necessary. In other cases, they broadly know what they want and would like to get relevant suggestions: that is where the trouble starts. In fact, unless they want to do an exhaustive search which leads them to look for every piece of music available, they only have a few chances to find new music that they really appreciate, unless their friends help them, but in that case, most of the time, the suggestions have little to do with what they really expect.
Providing musical criteria that help music listeners to get a better understanding of the music they listen to, the YMusic search engine examines the musical content of each piece of music contained in its database, which currently includes thousands of titles. In fact, music can be examined from various angles that are taken into account by YMusic. That is why each time a music listener does a search in YMusic, the program provides a unique result. As searchers, all individual music listeners have objectives, for instance taking some time for themselves, they want to accomplish specific listening tasks and acquire some knowledge. Good news, YMusic is here to help them through its interface and its algorithm. Through a series of queries, music listeners can make searches to find music that is searched in the database by following certain rules in relation to the music theory that supports the design of YMusic.
Do you want 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 new music and who are trying to develop their listening skills!
A MUSIC SEARCH ENGINE AS SOURCE OF MUSICAL INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE FOR ALL MUSIC LISTENERS
When software engineers are trying to develop a search engine, they can be confronted by requests coming from product managers, requests that they sometimes consider as irrelevant, for instance the appearance of space for ads in the interface. Engineers fix things so that user experience can be more interesting and efficient and that is why, when they are programming, they generally do not want to be involved in direct marketing and sales strategy, so they do not always agree to sacrifice a part of their homepage to promote products. And sometimes, ads can create long-term dissatisfaction amongst customers, especially if the results provided by the search engine are not seen as relevant.
In the field of music, with the YMusic search engine, currently under prototyping and based on a new music theory, there is no such danger. A reserved space dedicated to music listening and knowledge acquisition, YMusic is designed to meet the expectations of all music listeners in terms of music understanding. Its features help listeners to discover the true nature of music through different facets and, listening after listening, understand them better and determine why they love the music they love. One interesting result of that is the fact that their ability to find more music they love is increasing: the finding of new music that is likeable is no more blind chance. It is serendipity: controlled chance. Thanks to YMusic, which is meaning-driven, music listeners can become more aware of their individual musical tastes. In the end, listeners decide to what extent YMusic’s results are relevant and their feedback is welcome at any moment. In fact, everyone who ever touched a computer and tested a search engine has personal ways of doing a search. And these ways to do searches now shape the lives of numerous search engines’ users, who may literally be transformed by the information and knowledge they acquire through searching.
One idea behind the music search engine is to create a virtual world of educated and thinking music listeners without any judgments about their tastes. All YMusic’s users can rely on its database and its algorithm, based on a specific music theory, but nobody except themselves can make a value judgment related to their tastes. On the contrary, music listeners can evaluate the performance of the search engine. Far away from trends produced within the music industry, listeners can discover music that is new for them, occasionally or more regularly, according to the amount of time they have. That is why YMusic can become a trusted source of information and knowledge, in the field of music listening, including for people who do not have any musical knowledge. It is not a problem to know nothing or very little about music. Well-known popular musicians are in that situation and, with their music, they made millions of people dream. A little will and time is all that is required to get the most out of YMusic.
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.
TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A SEARCH ENGINE IN THE FIELD OF MUSIC
Entrepreneurship can be seen as a process that identifies and reduces business risks related to people, technology, finance and market, that process being supported by a business plan. It creates value by exploiting inventions. And technology entrepreneurship can be defined as the ability to identify opportunities in the field of business and to transform them into high-potential projects. Technology entrepreneurship, which wants to create a positive impact on society, is thus ethical. In the current context of internet, which accords a particular place to search engines, it is linked to knowledge acquisition.
Search engine technology has its roots in information retrieval and was first developed in academic institutions like Stanford University, at the frontier of computer science and library science, also called information science. Nowadays, the development of a search engine is autonomous. A search engine is grafted onto a browser which is a piece of software, and the browser itself is grafted onto a computer, which is of course a piece of hardware. Search engines’ business models evolved through time. First, funded by venture capital, they made connections with internet service providers and browser manufacturers. The market, then, was competitive. After that, various search engines created content channels in partnership with advertising companies. However some companies continued to be funded by venture capital and to evolve at the technical level, sometimes licensing searching to other websites.
Even if general search engines are numerous today, only some of them are influential in terms of market share. And specialized search engines are numerous too, but they are not very popular. Yet in the field of music, the creation of the YMusic search engine wants to change that situation. YMusic is based on a new music theory and is now launched as a prototype. It is not a music streaming service, a music critic website or a music archive. Currently, the music search engine industry does not exist. YMusic is here to convey to music listeners new ways of experiencing music listening. Based on musical criteria, it helps listeners to put a name on the main aspects of music and thus to get access to music analysis at the musical level. Acquiring knowledge related to the functioning of music, listeners can become more aware of what they like in music, generally speaking, and, in particular, why they like the music they like.
Thus using YMusic, search after search, music listeners can find more and more music they really find likeable, independently of any trends and social recommendation, which are nice, but do not help music listeners to find their individual tastes, musically speaking. For example, music streaming services mainly provide music based on elementary cultural criteria like age, gender or location. As a search engine, YMusic analyzes the musical content of each piece of music in detail. Associated to a music database which currently contains thousands of titles, YMusic will continue to evolve.
TECHNOLOGY ENTREPRENEURSHIP: A SEARCH ENGINE IN THE FIELD OF MUSIC