iTunes Genius
Throughout 2008 there have been great advances in technology and advertising, most stand-alone in the advertising field. One new feature this past year, however, proves itself to be multi-functional. iTunes 8 was released in early September, and with it the new Genius program.
A snapshot of the presentation for the release of iTunes 8 in San Francisco.
(for more pictures of the release visit http://www.engadget.com/photos/itunes-8-hands-on/1026646/)
An overview of iTunes 8 shows that the listener can use Genius to automatically create whole play lists from their library that flow along with a selected song, as well as purchase new songs that would work well in that play list. The first feature doesn’t have a huge effect on the advertising world, as it doesn’t involve actually purchasing anything. The second feature, however, in a simplified manner makes finding new music an easier task. It also takes away certain difficulties of music promotion. Filip Truta wrote, “Basically, by hitting the Genius button, users tell iTunes to activate the newly-implemented algorithms, and suggest related music in their Library, or music on the iTunes Store they might want to add to their music collection (making it easier to sell songs, are we, Apple?).” Truta even makes a quip about how Apple is using this to drastically increase music exposure. Generally people listen to the songs they like, so why wouldn’t they want to buy songs that are similar? Take this picture of an Alanis Morissette’s search for example.
The Genius sidebar provides the consumer with this artists top albums, in case you don’t have them yet, as well as their top songs that are currently not in your library, in case you want to buy them. Not only does Genius promote more of the same of a single band/artist, but also it selects songs from all of iTunes that it feels would go well with the selected song. It does this both with the new algorithms, but also with fellow iTunes users data. “When you turn on iTunes 8’s new Genius feature, information about your music library is anonymously sent to the iTunes Store, where it’s combined with the anonymously-gathered knowledge from millions of other iTunes users and processed through Apple-developed algorithms.” says Dennis Sellers of MacsimumNew.com.
So what does this all add up to? Joe Wilcox says it straight when he wrote, “The music player's big new feature is Genius, which sucks the metadata from your music library so that in a sidebar Apple can barrage you with "buy" buttons. It's like going window shopping and being approached by dozens of waving sales people.” Along with complaining about the new U.I. of iTunes 8 Wilcox explains how he feels Apple is becoming more Microsoft with this update. Apple’s look and attitude has always been simplicity. With all these new features and complicated user interface add-ons he feels they are loosing their own message.
Another angle provided this line from his article, talking about Genius’ data collection process and how it compares to Google. “Google collects a little bit [of data] every time somebody searches. In aggregate, the information can be used to identify marketing trends that Google can pass along to advertisers.” Replace Google with Apple and one can see how they are gaining more control over the world of advertising. (For more details on Google’s data collection process and its tie to advertising please visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google - Advertising.) One can see how they sell this data release to the public in this picture, the text of which was put out by Apple.
On a personal note I have used Genius extensively and found it to be a relief in terms of finding more music. I usually don’t listen to the play lists it creates for me, but that’s probably due to the fact that I listen to albums more than play lists. Which brings another problem of Genius, the fact that now more than ever people will listen to individual songs rather than whole albums. True, this trend in no way started with iTunes 8, but it will only exacerbate the loss of album flow. With this larger change in listening style there has to be a larger change in promotion and recording style. The focus now will be increasingly more on singles than on album works.
Apple’s move to a less interactive, more lucrative music purchasing process will continue to unfold in the future, but for now we can enjoy the ease and put up with the critics of this easy access online music store that now puts the listen-to-buying steps on the same screen, for better or for worse.
Citations:
Faas, Ryan. (2008, September 9). How does iTunes 8 Genius know what sounds good together? Retrieved January 10, 2009, from Computerworld website: http://blogs.computerworld.com/how_does_itunes_8_genius_know_what_sounds_good_together
Fruhlinger, Joshua. (2008, September 9). Apple launches iTunes 8, NBC comes back, TV shows at $1.99, Genius in the house. Retrieved from Engadget website: http://www.engadget.com/2008/09/09/apple-launches-itunes-8-nbc-comes-back-tv-shows-at-1-99/
Rosoff, Matt. (2008, September 11). Genius makes iTunes 8 a worthy upgrade. Retrieved January 10, 2009, from cnetNews website: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13526_3-10039744-27.html
Sellers, Dennis. (2008, September 9). iTunes 8 includes Genius feature, high def TV programs, more. Retrieved January 10, 2009, from MacsimumNews website: http://www.macsimumnews.com/index.php/archive/itunes_8_includes_genius_feature_high_def_tv_programs_more/
Truta, Filip. (2008, September 10). Apple Reveals the Genius in iTunes 8. Retreived from Softpedia website: http://news.softpedia.com/news/Apple-Reveals-the-Genius-in-iTunes-8-93253.shtml