Sonic Breakdown

Just ran across this new company that uses Wikipedia listings to drive music recommendations.  Gotta check it out some more. "Q: How many artists and albums do you have in your database? bA: We had 75,786 artists and 394,399 albums last time we updated this page."  I am always reluctant to download these kinds of clients but I may try this one ;).  The company name is probably not a very good choice, though, imho...  Brad Hill reviewed the service here:
"All in all, this is the best massaging of my music collection I’ve seen in quite some time. Now, if SonicBreakdown were to create a stand-alone music player with this explosion of information built into it—that would be something to really shout about..." he says

From Mixtape to Playlist

Good essay by Derek Slater
"....In this way, the tools may contribute to "semiotic democracy." Rather than just passively receiving music, consumers can actively engage it, altering and adding meanings and impressions of the musical works.  When consumers stand beside (or replace) the traditional tastemakers, they also may diminish the control with which those traditional tastemakers had on how we engaged music.  Consumers can shape the prism through which they view these works...." 
Well said!

Polyphonic HMI

claim to have a MATHEMATICAL solution to recognizing HITS, and to recommend similar music to consumers. Check it out. From the site: " April 7, 2005 (Barcelona, Spain) - On February 14th, 2005 Polyphonic HMI predicted that Aslyn's song, Be The Girl would break into the Top 30. Less than two months later it has. Polyphonic HMI predicted the success of Norah Jones' debut album, Come Away With Me, well before it won 8 Grammys in 2003. Soon afterwards the global microscope was directed at this firm's curious technology called Hit Song Science (HSS for short), focusing the music industry's as well as the media's attention on their ability to predict the likelihood of market success for songs well in advance of the music's release."   Sounds too good to be true:) but let's take a look!