iPhone apps: Testing Shazam's limits - classical music

Instead of trying to scrawl down lyrics, doing a search on Google (only to be lead to some bizarre lyric website repository that may or may not work, all the while offering me free ringtones and ceaseless pop-up ads), with Shazam's app, I've actually found songs by, well, listening to them. Shazam is slick. You hear a song, start the app, hold your iPhone's mic up to the sound source and viola! It's been 'tagged' and identified like a wild bird you caught on Animal Planet. Another app by Midomi even lets you hum a tune in, search by title, artist and even lets you listen to samples.

Sending the sample for off-site sonic analysis, querying the proper artist remotely, album art and sending a response back to your iPhone in less than 10 seconds is pretty dang slick. The sample time itself is only about 12 seconds! Once you get your result, you can bookmark it, and, if you're in a WiFi hotspot, launch iTunes to buy the song. Most popular songs are on these services. Shazam doesn't work in loud places like clubs, bars or restaurants, but works well in cars or at home.

What these services haven't been able to do, however, is to analyze classical music. I've tried a few times. Shazam says the Beethoven Fifth Symhony is "unrecognized." What would Ludwig say? After humming the piece into Midomi, I got the strangest country folk song in response. This isn't surprising. There are very long phrases in classical music and it makes even die-hard fans puzzle as to "what was that piece?" Having these services decipher classical music presents a lot of challenges. First, recordings of pieces are almost nearly indistinguishable especially if you only had a 12-second sample of them. Also, unlike pop music, where there is one artist performing one song (sure there are cover versions), with classical you have hundreds of ensembles, conductors and performers spanning 50 years of audio recording doing the same 'song' over and over again. For example, there are more than 200 recordings of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony alone!

When (or if) classical music can be deciphered by these types of services it will probably be a great engineering feat. Progress, if this is ever attempted, would probably be incremental. First, identifying a particular symphony, concerto or quartet is, in itself, very difficult. Next, identifying the particular recording will be staggering. All those ensembles and conductors perform pieces many times over leading to various versions and editions that would be a morass of data to sort through. While there's probably not a market demand for this type of service or application, it may serve as Shazam or Midomi's Everest.

[bartonsurfer]

The good news is: Shazam had achieved this technical hurdle the day it launched in 2002 thanks to the amazing technology invented by Avery Wang. In fact, it could distinguish and correctly identify Beethoven's Fifth Symphony performed by the London Symphony Orchestra performed in August of 1978 from another performance by the same symphony orchestra in another year (even if it sounded nearly identical).

The bad news is that Shazam does not have the world's classical music in its fingerprint database. Why? Because, unfortunately there has been very litle demand for this and there is a very high cost to adding the tremendous amount of classical music out there. One day there may be enough awareness of Shazam with enough classical music enthusiasts who also want to use Shazam regularly to justify this investment. Let's hope that day is soon!

Chris Barton
Co-Founder of Shazam Entertainment Ltd.

[iPhonica]

Here's the thing, Chris.... if a 20-something CNET writer feels there's something missing with this (otherwise brilliant) app, Shazam might want to re-think this policy. I would tend to think a fair amount of iPhone users have very diverse tastes on their built-in iPods; I seriously doubt the bulk of us will be shoving our phones at the radio merely to discover which Ludacris song is playing. If we're a fan, we know already. However, classical is the perfect medium for a tool like this! "Very little demand"... are you sure? I think there may be more "classical music enthusiasts" with iPhones than you think. You don't need to import every version of Beethoven's 5th or Chopins' Prelude in E minor....! One is plenty; we're trying to identify the piece, first and foremost. I admit I'm biased..though I love pop and hip hop, I am a classically trained musician. Consider, though, that nearly half the singers in my opera company are iPhone owners, ages 19 to 70, and I know many more non-musicians who just enjoy classical works. Don't sweat the small stuff! Pick the "most downloaded" or whatever for the linked version, I'm sure that will be suitable for most. If not, they can research and choose a different artist later, now that thanks to your software they know what they're looking for. We are OUT of the woodwork and we'd love this software for what it really seems most designed to do....

[sixlomaz]

I for one am very dissapointed with both shazam and midomi ... I understand it is much more complicated to index classical music - but neither can identify even the more popular stuff - "tunes" that you frequently hear in tv-ads or soundtracks...

A lot of the pop music (with the exception of the biggest "stars" and hits) is in fact of regional interest (go outside the US and you won't ever hear 95% of the American pop music, go outside France and you won't ever hear any French rap, etc). Also a lot of that music is virtually of no interest after even as little as a few months of success - cause everyone moved on to the next fashionable "star" or "cool" song. By comparance, classical music really has "no borders" - check out some classical music forums or blogs and you will see how let's say a Mahler Symphony has "fans" in China, Chile, Russia or the UK and with a much wider age span. (By the way, I am 29)

Yes, maybe not all of them are as "techophiles" as the average American Idol teenager fan - but I bet a substantial number already own iPhones.

[byronval]

I don't buy that.. How do you calculate the demand?? Put Shazam Classical on the market and you will then see a huge demand!! You will create the need. There was no need for an iPhone before it was created and marketed.
Cheers

[spossing]

Shazam and Midomi really are sweet. I included them in my list of favorite music apps today: http://evolvingmusic.wordpress.com/2008/07/23/kick-ass-music-apps-for-the-iphone/

What Chris Barton said about the disparity between demand for classical music and the cost of adding it makes sense. Sad, but true. One of the great things about what's happening in the music industry currently, though, is that people are finding music in nontraditional ways (ie not just radio and CDs etc) and the niche communities that cater to less mainstream genres like classical, world music, or indie rock are growing quickly.

As Shazam and other technologies gain visibility, and more of the classical music lovers come out of the woodwork I'm sure the accessibility of classical music online will improve.

At MixMatchMusic (www.mixmatchmusic.com) we are hoping for the same thing. While we expect most of our early users to be musicians/fans with hip hop or electronica roots (since those two genres are more likely to be created digitally and promoted online), ultimately we hope to grow to include content from the less traditionally-digital genres that don't necessarily have a huge presence online. It will be awesome to have some solid classical, folk, jazz, world, and punk music in our community for the hip hop and electronica fans to mix together.

Fusion of unlikely genres sometimes creates the most exciting new developments and sounds.

Go Shazam! One day you will find Beethoven in high demand!

[iPhonica]

if a 20-something CNET writer feels there's something missing with this (otherwise brilliant) app, Shazam might want to re-think this policy. I would tend to think a fair amount of iPhone users have very diverse tastes on their built-in iPods; I seriously doubt the bulk of us will be shoving our phones at the radio merely to discover which Ludacris song is playing. If we're a fan, we know already. However, classical is the perfect medium for a tool like this!
Don't sweat the small stuff! Pick the "most downloaded" or whatever for the linked version, I'm sure that will be suitable for most. If not, they can research and choose a different artist later, now that thanks to your software they know what they're looking for. We are OUT of the woodwork and we'd love this software for what it really seems most designed to do....

[looper7]

I just downloaded Shazam and will proably delete it now as I'm only likely to use it for classical stuff. Ohe thought though ... there are 'dictionaries' of classical music where tunes are identified on the basis of the pattern of notes in the 'tune'. If an app could isolate the pitch of the tunes and use a database based on such a dictionary it could then home in on the correct piece by matching up the rhythm. Surely not too complex these days?