Barnes & Noble.com launches a jazz recommendation service
Barnes & Noble.com today launched a jazz recommendation service that allows customers to listen to one-minute samples of jazz songs and learn about jazz styles and artists before they buy.
“Jazz is a daunting genre for many people because it’s so broad,” Daniel Blackman, vice president of Music and Video for Barnes & Noble.com, tells Internet Retailer. “It’s clear that some intelligent guidelines are needed for people who don’t know a lot about jazz but want to learn.”
The Barnes&Noble.com Jazz Discovery service consists of sections for new and advanced jazz listeners. The Beginner section offers customers a tour of jazz, allows them to hear classic and contemporary jazz selections that are hand picked to fit their tastes and learn more about the jazz they enjoy. At the end of each search, Jazz Discovery recommends groups of jazz CDs that are personalized to reflect customers` choices.
The Advanced section allows customers to listen to music from particular jazz artists, genres, eras or instruments. Customers can also search directly for songs or artists. The Advanced section includes biographies of premier jazz musicians, descriptions of major jazz genres and commentary about the contributions of various instruments to jazz.
The recommendation engine was developed by Savage Beast Technologies. Savage Beast also hand picked the music samples, which number in the thousands, and the music to illustrate the different genres. The samples feature the most representative part of the music and not simply the first 60 seconds of a song, Blackman says. Barnes & Noble.com spent about 6 months developing this application.
Barnes & Noble.com plans to apply this service to other music genres, including classical and world music as well as possibly pop, Blackman says.
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