“iTunes users probably have been asked in recent weeks to sign up for the Genius program—an arrangement where Apple gets permission to study our song lists and then creates play lists for us. I’ve been trying it out. It comes up with good stuff, dredging up forgotten or unknown tracks and mixing them with favorites,” Stephen Baker writes for BusinessWeek.
“I think its decision-making algorithms focus on race to the exclusion of nearly everything else—at least at this stage in their development. The way Genius works, you highlight a song in your library, and with the push of a button, the system creates a playlist of 25 or 50 songs (or even more) that fit the same musical theme,” Baker writes.
“For a test, I try Aretha Franklin. There’s no denying, of course, that she’s African American. She embodies Motown’s soul tradition. So I’d expect most of the songs grouped with hers to be by black musicians. It turns out that every single one of them is… I test drove the recommendation engines at to Last FM and Pandora. Both stick to race. I was a bit surprised, because Pandora claims to represent the ‘Music Genome Project.’ It sounds like it would dig for similarities beyond race. But no. Type in Aretha, and Pandora dishes up Al Green, Marvin Gaye, The Staple Singers–all the regulars,” Baker writes.
“Elsewhere, there are plenty of exceptions. Tracy Chapman and Joan Armatrading fit into folksy or jazzy groups that are multi-ethnic. Jimi Hendrix is with the rockers. But those are cases of black musicians who don’t fit within one recognizable group, like Motown,” Baker writes.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: We just ran iTunes Genius on Aretha Franklin’s version of Nessun Dorma. Turns out that iTunes’ Genius also discriminates against fat Italians. Just kidding: For some insane reason, Aretha’s Nessun Dorma is classified as “Pop” (probably because we picked it off an album of hers classified as “Pop,” Jewels In the Crown: All-Star Duets With the Queen) and iTunes’ Genius therefore delivers a bunch of lily-white artists including Shawn Colvin, Van Morrison, Paul McCartney, Jimmy Buffett, Elton John, Liz Phair, and Bonnie Raitt – along with “The King of Pop” himself, Michael Jackson, who at least used to be black.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Judge Bork” for the heads up.]
Apple Genius isn’t a RACE, you twit. A race has to do with human genetics handed down from generations of humans. Stop the asinine PC language. Instead try rational arguments and headline your article in that way. Sheesh!!!
Well there used to be a category called “race music” in the biz. Meaning black. Turned into swing and rock ‘n’ roll. Funny that African-American was the only race that mattered to the fat white record execs in 1950. Somehow mariachi never caught on, and songs like “Come on-a My House” were mere caricatures of Armenian and other ethnic music.