Crowdsourcing has become a very used strategy in this new digital era. It is used to reach to innovative solutions, decision-making, to raise funds for a Marathon to give to charity. It can also be used to create opinions about a product or to generate algorithms to make a product work. With that being said, let me introduce to you the latest novelty in the industry of music: JudgeMySound. An innovative idea from two young students where they opt to generate an algorithm by giving the freedom to the end users to judge different sounds, and ultimately be able to generate music through this algorithm.

A very known issue with crowdsourcing platforms rotate around the issues  with privacy controls, specifically when it demands for users to provide sensitive personal information. Many research papers have been looking into this subject, proving that on average conversions decline when it comes to deliver private information. Well, guess what? JudgeMySound completely ignores this requisite, on the contrary, it keeps the user anonymous through the whole process (as it can be observed in the image below).Obviously, the option of signing up and displaying user information is also possible, however, it is completely voluntary from the user’s end.

Once completed the tutorial, or having clicked the “Start Judging” now button, we get redirected to the “Judge” page. Here is where the user’s contribution comes into handy, and the algorithm comes into play. The user is shown a numerous amount of sounds, for which he can rate from Bad to Good. Judgements can be only displayed after having listened to the sound for approximately 7 seconds, in order to allow the algorithm to register and process the judgement in a sufficient amount of time. Furthermore, to make the whole judging experience more entertaining, a ranking list appears on the right side of the page showing daily and all time rankings.

The more judgements a user/participant makes, the higher he/she goes up the ranking. Friends, users and actual registered participants can take part into a small virtual competition while helping to generate the algorithm. Once the algorithm will be ready to operate, it shall be able to generate music based on consumer preferences.

With this idea, the music production is taken into a whole other level beyond the disc joker’s profession. By crowdsourcing sounds to consumers, it allows for consumers to become producers themselves. It’s a very strong idea that stands as a candidate for being the innovation for the future of music.

What’s your opinion on user generated music? Does it have the potential to match the skills in music production of well-known worldwide DJs?

For more information regarding JudgeMySound, check their video illustration on Youtube or visit their website.