Beyond the Play Button - The future of listening

transcript

Beyond the Play Button - SXSW 2014 - #PlayButton

Beyond the Play ButtonThe future of listening

Paul LamereThe Echo Nest

SXSW March 11, 2013#sxsw #PlayButton

Tuesday, March 11, 14

The 1979 iPod

Vinyl Cassette

The 1979 iPod

Vinyl Cassette

Digital Music Milestones

2001 2003 2007 2008

1979 1995 1999

All listeners are not created equal

Four listener types

Savants

Enthusiasts

Casuals

Indifferents

Survey conducted in 2003 and again in 2006 by Emap

Savants Engaged Casuals Indifferents

Distribution of Listener Types

>$1,000

$1Dollars spent per year by listener type

100+10

Average Interactions per Listening Session

100+10

Average Interactions per Listening Session

Money to spendMusical sophistication

Interaction

Savant Engaged Casual Indifferent

More Less

70% of listeners

Lean forward Lean back

I like AdeleWhat should I pick?

Interfaces built for engaged music fans will challenge

the casual or indifferent fan

One size doesn’t fit all

Better than radio

The challenge: to engage casual and indifferent listeners

Understanding the Listener

Demographics

Music Taste

Context

Demographics

• Gender

• Age

• Location

How much does a listener’s

demographic affect their listening?

Gender

How does a listener’s gender affect their taste in music?

Gender Skewed Playlists

http://static.echonest.com/contextual/gender.html

Top gender-skewed artists

• Iron Maiden• Rage Against the Machine• Van Halen• N.W.A• Jimi Hendrix• Limp Bizkit• Wu-Tang Clan• Xzibit• The Who• Moby

• Danity Kane• Cody Simpson• Hannah Montana• Emily Osment• Playa Limbo• Vanessa Hudgens• Sandoval• Miranda Lambert• Sugarland• Aly & AJ

Skews Male Skews Female

Top genres by gender

• Pop• Dance Pop• Contemporary Hit Radio• Urban Contemporary• R&B• Hot Adult Contemporary• Latin Pop• Teen Pop• Neo soul• Latin• Pop rock• Contemporary country

• Rock• Hip Hop• House• Album Rock• Rap• Pop Rap• Indie Rock• Funk Rock• Gangster Rap• Electro house• Classic rock• Nu metal

Top female genres Top male genres

How does a listener’s age affect their taste in music?

Distribution of listeners by ageR

Year of Birth

22 y/o

Age specific listening preferences

• Skrillex• Emblem3• Sage The Gemini• Selena Gomez & The Scene• Barden Bellas• Karmin• Cher Lloyd• Mac Miller• The Treblemakers• Little Mix• Hannah Montana• Ross Lynch• Zedd

• Roy Orbison • James Taylor• Jackson Browne• The Everly Brothers• Neil Diamond• Willie Nelson• The Doors• Tony Bennett• Cat Stevens• Bee Gees• Rod Stewart• Nat King Cole• Joni Mitchell

13-year-old 64-year-old

Age specific listening preferences13-year-old 64-year-old

LocationHow does where a listener’s lives

affect their taste in music?

Regional listening preferences

Listener’s Music Taste

Context

Automatically building contextual playlists

AutomaticallyInferringContext

From Activity

PersonalizedImplicit

Contextual

Beyond the Play Button - SXSW 2014 - #PlayButtonThe most boring data

Next gen devices

Zero UI devices

Lean Forward Listener

Experience

Discovery

Interaction

More Less

Interaction

More Less

Enhancing the listening experience

http://www.stanford.edu/~dgleich/demos/worldofmusic/WorldOfMusic.htmlTuesday, March 11, 14

Beyond the Play Button - SXSW 2014 - #PlayButton http://www.stanford.edu/~dgleich/demos/worldofmusic/WorldOfMusic.htmlTuesday, March 11, 14

Tinie Tempah Rap Demonstration

Created by British agency We Make Awesome Sh.

Tinie Tempah Rap Demonstration

Attention Deficit Radio

Music discovery for the more active listener

Music discovery as path finding

There must be five ways to get from Miley Cyrus to Cannibal Corpse

Six Degrees of Black Sabbath

Path finding through the artistcollaboration space

Boil the Frog

Path finding through the artistsimilarity space

Going Under Cover

Path finding through the cover song space

Roadtrip Mixtape

Path finding through the physical space

3D Music Maze

Path finding through a virtual game space

Interactive listening

The Bonhamizer Some songs just need a little bit of Bonzo

f.u.n.

bonhamizer.com

f.u.n.

John Bonham

bonhamizer.com

f.u.n.

John Bonham

improved!=

bonhamizer.com

f.u.n.

John Bonham

improved!=

bonhamizer.com

The Infinite JukeboxFor when your favorite song isn’t long enough

Visualizing the structure of pop music

Tik Tok by Ke$ha

Paparazzi by Lady Gaga

Baby by Justin Bieber

Fearless by Taylor Swift

Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin

Raise your weapon by Deadmau5

Take Five by Dave Brubeck

Green Grass and High Tides by The Outlaws

Roundabout by Yes

Cello Suite No.1, Yo-Yo Ma

4’33 by John Cage (Live performance)

Nyan Cat

Girl Talk in a Box

I’ve got 30 million songs in my pocket.Now what?

The future of music listening:

Engage the indifferents

Empower the the music fan

Beyond the Play ButtonPaul Lamere@plamereThe Echo Nest // Spotify

SXSW March 11, 2013

#sxsw #PlayButton

Links to slides, demos and supporting data can be found at:

musicmachinery.com

Beyond the Play Button - The future of listening

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