A talk in three parts - metadata from a market, data and technical perspective. Speakers : Decibel Music Systems As part of the British Library's Keeping Tracks symposium on music and archives in the digital age. 21.03.14 http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/music/2014/04/keeping-tracks.html

1. The Secret Life of a DataPhile
Evan Stein
Mark Wainwright
Georgiana Bogdan
Decibel Music Systems

2. PART 1
A Life in Search
Evan Stein
Decibel Music Systems

3. The Talk
 Evan Stein: Introduction – Reasons for Decibel as a product
 Mark Wainwright: Technical issues with music metadata
 Georgiana Bogdan: Metadata collection and processing

4. What is Decibel?
 Fact-based metadata system
 Social / buying-based recommendations (e.g., Amazon)
 Sound / mood-based recommendations (e.g., EchoNest)
 Fact-based navigation (e.g., MusicBrainz, Gracenote)
 Data and search provided through an API
 White-label services for customers’ products
 Navigate collections through linked information
 Furnish information, sleeve-note equivalent and file tagging
 Repertoire, artist and recording normalisation
 Insane level of detail

5. Decibel at work

6. A bit of history
 Musician
 Library of Congress
 Studies in Musicology
 Switch to computers, thanks to Fernando Pessoa
 Manhattan DA
 Standard & Poor’s
 Decibel

7. Library work
 Classification
 Retrieval (by classification)
 LC / Dewey Decimal, metadata
 Knowledge of the domain is a key to good work
 There are human databases walking about

8. Musicology
 Catalogues and classifications
 Works
 Instruments
 Eras, genres, styles
 Biography
 Ways of thinking about music
 Repertoire, theory, performance practice
 Sociology, anthropology, psychology, linguistics
 Correlation with other art forms
 Performers

9. Law enforcement
 Data for hypothesis-formation
 Unknown start and end
 Non-linear search
 Multiple languages, phonetics, semantics
 Linkage

10. Finance
 Normalisation
 Language
 Workflow
 Currency
 Formulas

11. Why the British Library?
 Fact based systems are good for research
 You don’t know what the user wants to know until they want to know it
 Data-based thinking allows you to follow your train of thought
 Good for navigating collections
 Improvements in bandwidth and storage
 Personal collections are getting larger
 Stores and services are also collections
 Library collections are being digitised, and physically smaller

13. Digitisation
 Information extracted from artefact (record, book, video, etc.)
 Cons
 Possible lack of context and background
 Ignores the artefact
 Pros
 “Good enough” for most uses
 Can be consumed anywhere

14. PART 2
Asking a Lot
Mark Wainwright
Decibel Music Systems

15. Relational
Database
Graph
Database

16. Graph Database Features
 Polymorphism More detail without affecting performance
 Recursive Relationships Results are more complete
 Associative Structure More interesting questions

17. Album Artist Track

18. Album has one disc
Album is disc

20. Track
Sung
By a man
Married To
A woman
Whose Song
Is Performed

21. Relational Database: Organised by Type
Graph Database: Organised by Association

23. Graph Database
 Polymorphism More detail without affecting performance
 Recursive Relationships Results are more complete
 Associative Structure More interesting questions

24. PART 3
Metadata Collection and Processing:
A Data Detective’s Investigation
Georgiana Bogdan
Decibel Music Systems

26. Why do we collect metadata?
KEEP
CALM
AND
JOIN THE
DIGITAL
MUSIC
REVOLUTION!
Source: IFPI Digital Music Report 2014

27. Why do we collect metadata?
Because few things matter more.
It is crucial for:
 Artists
 Music Listeners
 Music Providers
 Copyright Holders
 Music Libraries & Archives

28. Who do we collect metadata for?
Music streaming services
Copyright Collection Society
App Developers
Online radio services
Record Labels
Other music
industry
players
Digital Music Stores
Music
distributors

29. What metadata do we collect?
 Comprehensive data model
 Graph database for representing and storing data; API for delivering it
 Rich data fields; mix of internet sources, research and editorial content

30. What metadata do we collect?
Artist
Place
And
Dates of
Birth (and
Death)
Artist
Biogra
phy
Nationa
lity
Relation
ships
Album
Release
label
Track
Count
Duration
Album
Contrib
utionsRelease
Date
and
Region
Genre
Release
© and ℗
Cover
Art
Track
Genre
Mixing
Venue
and
Date
Publisher
Writer
Track ℗
details
Participa
nts/Artist
sMastering
Venue and
Date
Recording
Venue and
Date
Number
Performa
nce Type
Duration
ISRC

31. How do we collect metadata?
 Online legal sources (and the magic of computer programming!)
 Research Team + Editorial Team. The Right People!
 Data Partnerships

32. How do we keep our metadata evolving?
 Keeping an eye on emerging music markets – data & content in local languages
 Being aware of the music ecosystem; connecting with the industry players
 Directly engaging with music industry professionals. Being social and sociable!

34. http://www.decibel.net
@decibelnet
Evan Stein
evan.stein@decibel.net
Mark Wainwright
mark.wainwright@decibel.net
Georgiana Bogdan
georgiana.bogdan@decibel.net
How to contact us?