Searching for music in your own words is not the death of tagging. It’s not about replacing one thing with another; it’s about using both to provide the best experience and find the best results, as quickly as possible. Let’s look at how (and when) to merge the two together.
Blending the old with the new. It’s the “best of both worlds” middle ground, and it works.
The most thoughtful thing we can do for music search and the professionals using it daily is take the strengths of traditional methods and pair them with the best of the new.
Leading AI natural language searches like AIMS Prompt Search understand any input and analyze audio (not tags) to get results. What makes them “the best of the new” is that they’ve made the impossible possible, and they’re proven to work with massive catalogs.
They also fit your workflows seamlessly, which includes working with metadata — allowing you to start benefiting from assistive AI right away, however comes naturally to you.
The need for metadata isn’t up for debate
We’ve always said that AI music searches like Prompt Search should be taken as an upgrade to keywords, not a substitute. Case in point: AIMS provides many metadata filters for every search (all customizable to fit your data), our Lyrics Search relies on metadata and we added Tagging as a product after we built our audio-based Similarity Search.
Metadata is still a must-have; it ensures proper classification, crediting of songwriters and composers, and attribution of royalties. It can also help narrow down your search.
How metadata & keywords enrich AI music search
Gold nugget of advice: Start with a prompt, then narrow down your search with filters.
Step 1: Write any prompt
Kicking off a search in your own words is the fastest way to start exploring.
If you’re armed with very little information — or you have so much to work with that it’s hard to know where to begin — Prompt Search is a great starting point.
Say you have a brief packed with details about the ideal track or its usage. Normally, you’d have to translate those details into keywords. With Prompt Search, you just paste the full brief into the search. Right off the bat, you’re avoiding common keyword-search issues like overtagging, inconsistent taxonomies, human bias or the binary nature of keywords.
You don’t even have to know keywords, or any music industry terms, to find suitable music.
Step 2: Use metadata as needed
Once you’ve got some results, you may want to quickly refine your search. That’s where filters come into play — whether it’s the release year, genre, BPM, language or duration. It all depends on how many specifics you’re working with and what’s sounding best to you.
With this two-step approach, step two is all about refining the last details of your search. All in all, finding the perfect track often takes no more than a few minutes (or mere seconds).
If metadata isn’t going anywhere, make sure it’s reliable
An estimated 30% of music on major streaming platforms suffer from metadata issues.
Compromised metadata has substantial consequences, from loss of publishing revenue to depriving songwriters of deserved credit and harming discoverability.
This is very easily fixable with the right tools. AIMS’ automated tagging analyzes audio to generate metadata, instantly mitigating the long list of issues plaguing catalogs. It can also auto-tag multiple catalogs in one go for maximum consistency. With no manual work needed, it’s a massive improvement with minimal effort.
The goal is to find great music faster, your way
Finding the perfect track with keywords alone can take hours. And once you find it, you know you haven’t checked every track. Could there be a better fit hidden away somewhere?
Prompt Search activates your entire catalog with each search and brings search time down to minutes. So whether you choose to employ keywords or stick with a creative, prompt-only speedrun, you’ve saved hours of time and have full confidence in the result.
“The fact that AI can interpret our own words helps us optimize time and be more efficient. Prompt Search translates into music directly from our minds.”
— Teresa Carbonell (CEO), Konga Music Search
Interested in how AIMS can work for you? Reach out to us here: https://www.aimsapi.com/book-a-demo