Comment by Henchman21
2 days ago
When I was building out infrastructure to support streaming at Sony Music Entertainment, it was well known that interns would input the metadata. Typos were rife and genres? Made up out of whole cloth.
It feels safe to assume that the situation has improved since then, but I doubt seriously we’ll ever be free of typos ;)
> genres? Made up out of whole cloth.
The problem with genre remains entirely unsolved across the board. The solution I use in my collection is to do what everyone else seems to do: make them up out of whole cloth. Because I'm the only one making them up, it means my labeling is at least internally consistent.
The biggest issue with genres is most databases treating them as one to one rather than one to many.
That's a real issue. I think the biggest issue with genre, though, is that even if people agree on a list of possible genre labels, there is often disagreement about what music belongs in which genre.
This isn't a new problem at all. Even music labels often disagree. Back when record stores were a thing, it was pretty common for different stores to categorize the same albums differently in terms of genre. I think the only way to avoid it is to stick to very, very broad categories. "Rock", for instance, covers an amazingly broad set of styles.
I will admit that I do precisely the same with my collection! But I truly felt that those interns should’ve received a list to choose from, not an open text field.
It's sad Sony put the effort into writing rootkits for music CD's but did nothing to automate, flag, fix typos for metadata...
I remember the Sony rootkits...Since then and to this day, i avoid buying anything related to Sony as best i can. Funny thing is, folks who know me know that i am not the kind of person who holds a grudge....but something about that rootkit event really brought the ire in me....one of the extremely few times where i held a grudge. So, i avoid Sony and go on with my life.
I also stop buying at other companies...but for other companies for some reason i don;'t hold onto the ire...i just stop buying from them, and quietly move on...but Sony....i don't get it, but the dislike is crazy.
I recall a meeting where my team was asked to do some technical legwork for the implementation. To his credit, my boss stood up, said some words about ethics, and led our team out the door. It wasn’t the entire org… just the music business folks as I recall. I left shortly thereafter.
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Agreed. I could say tons here, but it’ll suffice to say that I am wildly happy I no longer work there!