System, apparatus and method for discovery of music within a social network

Abstract

A system, apparatus, and method to assist in the discovery of music or other content by members of a social network. The present invention permits network members to network together and share information about their music collections and listening habits with a processing platform and with each other. The processing platform processes music library content and playback related data to produce similarity and compatibility measures between artists (that is, an artist-to-artist measure) and between network members (that is, a network member-to-network member measure). By combining the content and playback related data with filtering mechanisms, recommendation techniques (which may be based on the calculated measures), and set membership concepts, the present invention provides network members of the network with tools to discover artists and/or songs that are likely to be of interest to them.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method for recommending music, comprising:
 receiving first library data regarding a first music library of a first user;   receiving second library data regarding a second music library of a second user;   receiving first playback data for the playback of media from the first music library of the first user;   receiving second playback data for the playback of media from the second music library of the second user;   comparing the first library data and first playback data to the second library data and the second playback data; and   based on the comparing, generating a recommendation to the first user regarding a potential interest of the first user in content contained in the second music library of the second user.   
     
     
         2 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the generating comprises determining a similarity between first music tastes of the first user and second music tastes of the second user. 
     
     
         3 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the generating comprises determining a similarity between two musical artists. 
     
     
         4 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the recommendation comprises music contained in the second music library that is not contained in the first music library. 
     
     
         5 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the recommendation comprises music popular with members of a social network but not contained in the first music library. 
     
     
         6 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the first library data and first playback data comprises:
 an artist identifier of a music artist contained in the first music library;   an song identifier of a song contained in the first music library;   a date at which a song or music artist was added to the first music library;   a playcount for a song or music artist contained in the first music library;   a play date or time for a song or music artist contained in the first music library; and   information regarding music currently being played by a media player associated with the first user.   
     
     
         7 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the first playback data is received from the first user each time a song is played on a device of the first user. 
     
     
         8 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein the first playback data is received from the first user on a regularly scheduled time period. 
     
     
         9 . The computer-implemented method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the recommendation comprises multiple recommended songs;   the recommended songs are ordered based on decreasing similarity with determined musical tastes of the first user.