Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are changing the world as we see it. They are making their impact and enhancing almost every field, be it the software industry, medical industry, automobile industry, entertainment industry, and many more. One sector which is increasingly getting exceptional due to AI is the Music Streaming Industry.
The Music Industry has come a long way from physical record tapes with limited songs to online streaming, where almost every song is available within a search on different streaming platforms like Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, and others.
Today Music Streaming platforms are not just providing the ability to search and play songs to the users. They are also personalizing their music listening experience with the help of a recommendation system developed through Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Big Data. These technologies have totally changed the way people listen to music and also how artists create and record music with programs such as Logic Pro.
Music is a pretty personal experience, and every person has different tastes and listens to different music. If the users automatically get the songs they want without performing a search, they are likely to use that streaming service. The music streaming giant Spotify has gained tremendous success and user base by providing deeply personalized, automatically generated music playlists to the users. Spotify was the first online music streaming service to apply Machine Learning and AI techniques.
How AI and Machine Learning improve Music Experience?
Irrespective of industry, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning relies on two important aspects to detect a unique pattern and recommend music suggestions based on it. Those two factors are – User Data and Audio Analysis.
User Data
Music Streaming apps gather a variety of user data to provide them a personalized experience. The data includes the genres users listen to most, which songs they listen to on repeat, which song they add into their playlist, the average time they spend listening to music, and many more. Apart from these, the search keywords, the device used, user’s location, and age are also monitored. All such data is collected to know the behavioral trend and decide on what to suggest to users. User Data is collected through apps, curated, and fed into an Artificial Intelligent engine. The engine uses Machine Learning to learn what users listen to and recommend different songs, albums, artists, and playlists based on it.
Audio Analysis
One of the major applications of Artificial Intelligence is the analysis of the music uploaded on different streaming platforms. Every day thousands of songs are added on popular streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music, and others. With modern technology like AI and Machine Learning, every song is analyzed and categorized accordingly. Spotify even uses neural networks to interpret a song’s pitch, melody, vocal styles, lyrics, and more.
Combining the User Data and Audio Analysis, the music experience of users is greatly enhanced and personalized as per their listening behavior.
How is Artificial Intelligence changing the Music Streaming Industry?
Previously, the Music Industry used to rely on the sale of physical vinyl records, music cassettes, and music tapes. However, when music streaming switched to online, all such physical modes became useless.
Today, instead of paying for physical copies, we users pay for buying the subscription of different music streaming services. With the introduction of AI to improve the music streaming and listening experience of users, the music industry has boosted a lot. The streaming giant Spotify has gained millions of users and has occupied 35% of the total global music streaming market after introducing the AI based-feature of providing related playlists.
Bottom Line
After the music streaming was shifted to the online platform, it was expected that Music Industry would struggle to survive. However, with the introduction of AI and Machine Learning, the Music Industry has gained a much-needed boost. Today it is flourishing with millions of users using different music streaming applications and websites.
Although AI is continuously transforming the Music Industry, the data collected for it must be regularly regulated to protect user’s privacy.
