“音樂大腦”的讀心術

????Echo Nest是一家私人公司，沒有披露財務信息，也沒有透露它是否盈利。不過自從成立以來，它的增長非常迅速。它的總部設立在一個安靜街區的一幢紅磚房里，現在已經擁有48名員工。今年夏天，該公司宣布它從諾維斯特風險投資公司（Norwest Venture Partners）獲得了新一輪1,730萬美元的風險投資，使它的資金總額達到了2,600萬美元。現在，這家公司正在籌劃向其它領域發展。耶漢目前正著手打造一些能夠與音樂互動的工具。比如一種專門為電臺DJ提供的播放列表，它可以把好聽的歌曲片斷混合在一起。此外還有一個叫做“swing-ify”的應用，可以通過控制聲音數據，來修改幾乎任何一首歌的節拍記號。比如，如果你在這個應用上播放槍炮玫瑰樂隊的名曲《Sweet Child O' Mine》，旋律就會扭曲得好似拉斯維加斯的靡靡之音，而不是舞臺搖滾的調子。（這個應用很有趣，但并不公開發售。）

????與此同時，惠特曼一直努力通過整理音樂數據和單個聽眾的偏好，來進一步優化搜索結果。今年10月，Echo Nest公司向它的API中添加了一些品味資料工具，幫助開發者們匹配一些看似與音樂無關的偏好——比如政治傾向。（公司的試驗發現，共和黨人更喜歡肯尼?切斯尼，民主黨人喜歡蕾哈娜，幾乎人人都愛批頭士。）

????Echo Nest的方法可謂別具一格，同時像Gracenote和Rovi等公司也在編輯和運作音樂數據。【比如蘋果（Apple）的iTunes就依賴Gracenote的技術?！坑行┓?，比如Pandora，也建立起了足以與Echo Nest相競爭的專有系統。最終，“知識庫”的深度可能是該公司最好的資產。MOG公司首席執行官海曼如此解釋他的公司為什么會找上Echo Nest：“我們喜歡它們的成果?！?/p>

????譯者：樸成奎

????Privately held, Echo Nest does not disclose financials or whether it is yet profitable. It has grown quickly since its founding; today there are 48 employees tinkering away in its red-brick office on a quiet block. And this summer it announced a new, $17.3 million round of venture funding led by Norwest Venture Partners, bringing its total haul to $26 million.

????Now the company is pushing into other areas. Jehan is focused on creating tools to interact with music. One example: a new kind of deejay-friendly playlist that blends snippets of songs that sound good together instead of mixing entire tracks. Another app can "swing-ify" music by manipulating sonic data so that pretty much any song can be modified to a different time signature. Play "Sweet Child O' Mine" through the app, for instance, and the sound is subtly tweaked to make it seem as though Guns N' Roses were playing a smoky Vegas lounge set rather than arena rock. (The app is fun, but not for sale.)

????Meanwhile, Whitman has been trying to further refine discovery results by collating music data with individual listeners' preferences. In October, Echo Nest added taste-profile tools to its API that may help developers match musical taste with even seemingly far-out preferences -- like political affiliation. (The company's experiments found that Republicans favor Kenny Chesney, Democrats prefer Rihanna, and the Beatles appeal to, well, everybody.)

????While Echo Nest's approach is unique, other firms, like Gracenote and Rovi, also compile and market music data. (Apple's (AAPL) iTunes relies on Gracenote, for instance.) Some services, notably Pandora, have built proprietary systems that could compete with Echo Nest. Ultimately, the depth of "the knowledge" may be the firm's best asset. MOG CEO Hyman explains that's why his company went with Echo Nest. "We liked their results," says Hyman.