Music Genome Project

Pandora rocks.

What is it that makes you enjoy certain kinds of music and not others? How do you discover new music which is both like and unlike the one you already love?

Music Genome Project attempts to unravel this mystery (strictly scientifically;), and offers some great music in the process.

Together we set out to capture the essence of music at the most fundamental level. We ended up assembling literally hundreds of musical attributes or "genes" into a very large Music Genome. Taken together these genes capture the unique and magical musical identity of a song - everything from melody, harmony and rhythm, to instrumentation, orchestration, arrangement, lyrics, and of course the rich world of singing and vocal harmony. It's not about what a band looks like, or what genre they supposedly belong to, or about who buys their records - it's about what each individual song sounds like.

Over the past 6 years, we've carefully listened to the songs of over 10,000 different artists - ranging from popular to obscure - and analyzed the musical qualities of each song one attribute at a time. This work continues each and every day as we endeavor to include all the great new stuff coming out of studios, clubs and garages around the world.

It has been quite an adventure, you could say a little crazy - but now that we've created this extraordinary collection of music analysis, we think we can help be your guide as you explore your favorite parts of the music universe.

Tim Westergren
Founder

In addition to the online radio which I like more than last.fm radio (betrayal!), I found the Pandora podcast (CLICK!).

It is updated twice a month, and offers a fascinating insight into music theory, accompanied by fine examples, of course. Kevin Seal hosts the podcast and invites musicians and music analysts to talk about how music is made.

PANDORA PODCAST SERIES: TOPICS FOR 2007

Bass Guitar in Pop and Rock
The Blues Scale
Brass: Trumpets, Trombones, Tuba
Common Chord Progressions
Dissonance
Country and Bluegrass, Yesterday and Today
Drums and Drumming, Part Two: Swing
Electric guitar effects
Elements of Salsa
Hip Hop Rhyme Schemes
Holiday Music
Jazz Improvisation
Major and Minor Tonality
Meters and Time Signatures
Mixing Vocals
Pedal Point
Pop Percussion
Putting Words to Music, or Music to Words
Recording Vocals
Reggae, Rock Steady and Ska
The Science of the Riff
Strings
Studio Sheen: Mixing and Mastering
Singing Intervals
Upright Bass, Bowed and Plucked
Vintage Keyboards: Hammond, Rhodes, Moog
Vocalizing: Range, Tone, Vibrato

Don't be put off by the starting ad:D Those guys have kids to feed, too:)


Off: Turns out I love being sent flowers. :) tnx ppl