Computer Program Accurately Picks Music Hits

In the digital media age, where people have a limited time to consume the goods, the key to improving quality of material watched is to have better filters to try and anticipate what you will want. This concept has been around for a while, but hopefully someday soon there will actually be software that can do a really good job of it. These guys are trying it on music.

After years of crunching data, Brian Whitman and Tristan Jehan have devised a computer program that listens to a song, then predicts how humans will react to it.

The response is so specific at times that it can forecast how a single will perform on the charts and spit out a review, guessing what words will be used to describe it, from "sexy to romantic to loud and upbeat," Whitman said.

The goal is to pinpoint trends in pitch, rhythm and cadence that are driving consumer spending habits. However, the MIT researchers believe they've taken the science to another level.

The MIT method, developed at the school's renowned Media Laboratory, also takes into account social responses to hit music that are fed into the algorithms.

Via Seattle PI