A Multigraph-Based Method for Improving Music Recommendation

Abstract

Music recommendation systems have become an important part of the user-centric online music listening experience. However, current automated systems often are not tuned for exploiting the full diversity of a song catalogue, and consequently, discovering new music requires considerable user effort. Another issue is current implementations generally require significant artist metadata, user listening history, or a combination of the two, to generate relevant recommendations. To address the problems with traditional recommendation systems, we propose to represent artist-to-artist relationships as both simple multigraphs and more complicated multidimensional networks. Using data gathered from the MusicBrainz open music encyclopedia, we demonstrate our artist-based networks are capable of producing more diverse and relevant artist recommendations.

Appendix A: Comparison of Three Node Importance Measurements in Two Multigraphs

Rank	Graph I with The Who, The Rolling Stones, Van Halen, The Eagles, and Boston as seed artists				Graph II with R.E.M., Spice Girls, Megadeth, The Cardigans, and Abba as seed artists
	Artist	Degree centrality	Load centrality	Page rank	Artist	Degree centrality	Load centrality	Page rank
1	Black	4.181	0.038	0.011	Metallica	2.441	0.007	0.007
2	The Rolling Stones	3.598	0.046	0.010	Black Sabbath	2.568	0.008	0.007
3	Genesis	4.098	0.018	0.010	R.E.M.	2.047	0.056	0.007
4	Whitesnake	3.960	0.016	0.010	The Smiths	2.453	0.010	0.007
5	Yes	4.014	0.009	0.009	Motörhead	2.378	0.008	0.007
6	Deep Purple	3.768	0.014	0.009	Whitesnake	2.408	0.008	0.007
7	Queen	3.691	0.013	0.009	Megadeth	1.676	0.043	0.007
8	Alice Cooper	3.443	0.018	0.008	Queen	2.319	0.012	0.006
9	The Who	3.248	0.027	0.008	The Pretenders	2.371	0.003	0.006
10	Electric Light Orchestra	3.640	0.004	0.008	Ozzy Osbourne	2.286	0.010	0.006
11	Ozzy Osbourne	3.394	0.014	0.008	The Damned	2.029	0.021	0.006
12	Artists united against apartheid	0.973	0.064	0.008	Alice Cooper	2.180	0.009	0.006
13	Uriah Heep	3.520	0.003	0.008	New Order	2.221	0.006	0.006
14	Eric Clapton	3.547	0.003	0.008	Simple Minds	2.209	0.003	0.006
15	The Kinks	3.549	0.003	0.008	Fleetwood Mac	2.185	0.006	0.006
16	Frank Zappa	3.242	0.010	0.008	Killing Joke	2.082	0.007	0.006
17	The Yardbirds	3.229	0.009	0.008	The Who	1.985	0.010	0.006
18	Santana	3.056	0.009	0.007	Ac/Dc	1.965	0.005	0.005
19	Brian May	3.152	0.004	0.007	The Lightning Seeds	1.980	0.005	0.005

Rank	Graph I with The Who, The Rolling Stones, Van Halen, The Eagles, and Boston as seed artists				Graph II with R.E.M., Spice Girls, Megadeth, The Cardigans, and Abba as seed artists
	Artist	Degree centrality	Load centrality	Page rank	Artist	Degree centrality	Load centrality	Page rank
20	Faces	2.853	0.016	0.007	Oasis	1.908	0.007	0.005
21	Boston	2.899	0.014	0.007	Tool	1.882	0.005	0.005
22	Def Leppard	3.046	0.004	0.007	The Hollies	1.934	0.004	0.005
23	The Beach Boys	3.166	0.002	0.007	Radiohead	1.839	0.008	0.005
24	Van Halen	2.672	0.023	0.007	Nine Inch Nails	1.786	0.006	0.005
25	Jethro Tull	3.061	0.004	0.007	Modest Mouse	1.456	0.026	0.005