The Undiscovered Music Genome Project

I had an idea for a website. Pandora, also known as the Music Genome Project, has been a musical blessing to me. I've found so much new music there that I never would have found otherwise, so I can't help but think about how to extend it to new purposes. Ergo, my idea.

I do not pretend to know anything about the music industry, but it seems that there are a lot of bands who would like to be signed and few record labels looking for talent. Maybe the problem is that many of the labels, since the advent of Napster, are falling off the wave. I digress.

Anyway here's the idea, make a website dedicated to giving unsigned and indie artists the exposure they want: the Undiscovered Music Genome Project. Everyone is encouraged to submit their music. For each song they submit, they include a survey of it's musical characteristics, and each submission is QC'ed to Pandora standards before admission. The functionality would be mostly the same as Pandora except that voting would be 2 fold: "I like/dislike the sound", and "I like/dislike the artist." This way people and talent scouts can more quickly find the type of music they are looking for. Another idea would be to filter music by location so you can find local talent.

Two challenges would be: (1) Filtering and validating all the submissions. (2) Maintaining a database filled with fresh music (perhaps songs have expiration dates).


Just another idea. Someone go and make it happen.